# Images

Creating and modifying images is one of &krita;'s core functionalities. While most of the other chapters in this manual focus on the things you can do when painting or editing, this chapter shows you what you can do with respect to the images themselves.

## Working with files

Unless you are doing some quick sketching, working with &krita; will most likely involve files. You can open existing images — &krita; can work with a large number of file formats, see Image formats — or start &krita; to create a new one. When you are done or if you want to continue at a later time, you can easily save your work.

Opening existing files

  When you start &krita;, you can open an existing image with the Open Existing Document button at the lower left of the opening dialog. You can also use the File Open menu option (&Ctrl;O). This will bring up the Open Document dialog in which you can choose an image to open. The opening dialog and the File menu also contain a list of the most recently used files for quick access.

Saving your work in progress

  With the File Save and File Save As... menu options (or their respective shortcuts &Ctrl;S and &Ctrl;&Shift;S), you can save your work. The former option will save the modifications to the current image, the latter option will show the Save Document dialog in which you can give a new file name for the image. If this is the first time you save the image, Save will ask for a file name as well.

Creating a new image

  From the opening dialog (available via the File New menu option or the &Ctrl;N keys), you can create a fully custom document or choose one of the image templates. These templates offer a quick way of creating a new image. See the Starting to know &krita; tutorial.