Problem:
trace bitmap does not reopen on same page once it has been opened and closed. the dialog box opens but none of the option/tools are present.

If I open trace bitmap in a page with multiple images, I can keep using trace bitmap for each image; I can even pull the traced layer off the original image and re-trace the original; yet, once I close the trace bitmap dialog box, it will never open again except as an empty box. I can even save the page, close it, and reopen it: it still will not work.

Now I cannot even paste into it. And it keeps crashing when I import a second image. What is wrong with this application?

Addendum : Inkscape crashes only when I try to open a .gif file.

Hello,
It's hard for me to understand your first post.

With your second post, I begin to see some light.

Are you trying to trace an animated gif?

Well, first, the obvious: It seems that it's a bug of inkscape, related specifically with gif format. Try to use other formats like png, or jpg, bmp, tiff.

There are tools to transform gif (even animated) to another formats. The most powerful (and free) is the imagemagick set of tools, but you have to know how to use, because it's used with command line.

However, It's always good to know more ...Could you post your image files?

Teo Toon wrote:Problem:
trace bitmap does not reopen on same page once it has been opened and closed. the dialog box opens but none of the option/tools are present.

This is a known bug.

Teo Toon wrote:Addendum : Inkscape crashes only when I try to open a .gif file.

How large is the GIF and how much RAM on your computer?