Using inkscape version 0.48.2 r9819. Vista 32 bit. Images that I want to save are always selected. I cannot save, save as, export anything, not an original .svg file created in inkscape, nor an imported or opened .pdf or .png.

I have been using inkscape for over three weeks and all the save/export/import/open functions were working. I have files that I created and saved during that time so I do have inkscape .svg, .pdf and .png files that I can open and then modify. I just cannot save them afterwards except as modifications to the original .svg. "New Document" stays at the top of a.png if I open it in inkscape. I did get a dialogue twice a few hours ago (which no longer appears) to save as .pdf. Those files open as blank pages in A. Reader as well as inkscape.

I uninstalled inkscape completely and reinstalled a fresh download from sourceforge. Same problems. I have searched and not found quite the same problem anywhere. There were two bug reports and this: viewtopic.php?f=29&t=11646. It does not matter whether I open an inkscape-created file that was saved to a sub-folder on my hard drive or a file that I saved to a flash drive.

Please help. If this is not user error (I am not very computer literate), please tell me - what the easiest vector program to learn. I am in urgent need. Thank you.

Welcome to InkscapeForum!

I'm not familiar with the "R" info, but I'm assuming that r9819 is the stable version of 0.48.2. Was this the download link? This is the download link for the stable version http://sourceforge.net/projects/inkscap ... e/download. So if r9819 isn't the stable one, you might try the stable one. But it sounds like what you have probably is that one.

That's interesting that you were getting the Save As dialog at first, but now you're not!

But you say that you can't export anything either....does that include exporting PNGs with the Export Bitmap dialog? Are you not getting that dialog either?

If it's this bug (the one you've already found) https://bugs.launchpad.net/inkscape/+bug/805095 it appears to have been fixed already, so that you could use the current development version, until the next stable release (later this year 0.48.3). But I'm not convinced it's this same bug (or necessarily a bug at all), because you say you did get the Save As dialog at first, and also because the bug reports were limited to Windows XP. And especially if you're not getting the Export Bitmap dialog, that's not part of this bug at all.

I have files that I created and saved during that time so I do have inkscape .svg, .pdf and .png files that I can open and then modify. I just cannot save them afterwards except as modifications to the original .svg.

Does that mean that you are able to save SVGs, if the file was already existing? But you can't save a newly created SVG?

Hhm....Ok, if you could please try this. First restart your computer. (Sometimes a new user clicking around on whatever sounds like it might help, can sort of confuse the computer. So a fresh restart can sometimes fix it.) After it's restarted, double-click the desktop icon to open a new blank Inkscape document. Draw a simple rectangle (or whatever, just any simple shape). Then File menu > Save As. Do you get the dialog? If so, type the file name and put .svg on the end. Then make sure it says Inkscape SVG in the Save as type: field. Then click Save button on the dialog. As you do all this, please note if anything else is happening as you go, such as error messages, or just anything that is not what you expect.

To save PNG files you should be using File menu > Export Bitmap, and not Save As > Cairo png. To save a PDF (or any other format) if you either forget to type the file extension ('.pdf' at the end of the file name), or forget to choose PDF from the dropdown menu of the Save as type: field, the save won't work. I don't mean to insult you with these simple steps, but you said you weren't very computer literate, so I thought you might be overlooking one of these things.

Let us know how it goes

Hello, Brynn! I'm not literate, so I appreciate baby steps. The "r" is what I got from "About Inkscape" at the top of the screen. I had learned and was consistently able to do all those different save functions. When things started to go kalflooey I thought I had forgotten something, but then everything degraded to the point where I wasn't getting any response to any saves, including as .svg.

I tried closing the program and reopening and restarting the computers. The program itself is on the hard drive of both my laptop and desktop, and the results were happening when I used either one, even after the uninstall and reinstall. I've been trying to recall anything different in my uses from the time that all was working until it was not. I believe that the difference came when I copied all of my first files (when all worked) to my flash drive from both computers so I could carry the files back and forth. At least a few of those files (originally created and saved on hard drive folders) were opened, worked on and resaved on the flash drive. I think I started having problems with some of those files and definitely some new ones I was making (being saved initially on the flash drive and worked on from there). I thought it was memory problems and deleted many files. Problems got worse and ended with nothing working.

If it is interest, a simple pdf that I had been able to create and email was downloaded and opened by the recipient OK. However, just as "view" in google email (FF browser), the gradients separated into distinct elipses which hadn't happened with any ealier gradient pdf I created and emailed.

Now I must apologize. I have done some new files tonight on my laptop, saving just to the hard drive. All is working. I just went to the desktop and tried new files there, saving just to the hard drive. All is working. Fingers crossed that all keeps working. It seems that saving and working from the flash drive is the problem. (The flash itself has no bad parts (sectors?) on it, I checked that too.)

Thank you for our time and these forums. I would not have been able to work this through without the help.

Ah-ha!
So maybe it is related to that bug after all! If you copied the files to the flash drive, and then later copied them to another hard drive, they may have carried some kind of data with them -- may have somehow inherited something from the flash drive which still existed on the hard drive??? I'm just guessing. I'm really not the right person to consult about technical things.

The bug has nothing to do with the flash drive, except that's where it occurs. It's not malfunctioning. It's Inkscape malfunctioning when the image is saved onto a flash drive.

All the details of your problem do not fit with the reported bug, especially being on Vista, and not XP. But happening after you used the flash drive, to me, is a strong clue. Maybe it occurs with Vista, but it's slightly a different presentation? The issue with the PDF is probably not related, but who knows!

Anyway, I'm glad to hear is working better now! I've had several experiences where things went "kablooey" when I was trying to learn something new, not with Inkscape, but with other computer things. I would report the problem and then go to bed. Then the next day, everything worked fine -- I know it's frustrating!

I'll keep and hope things continue to run smoothly for you