If you right-click on certain parts of the GIMP interface, a “context menu” opens, which leads to a variety of functions. Some places where you can access context menus are:

There is an interesting property associated with some of the menus in GIMP. These are any of the menus from the Toolbox menubar and any of their submenus, as well as the Image context menu you get by right-clicking on the image window and any of its submenus. (You can tell that a menu item leads to a submenu because there is an icon next to it.) When you bring up any of these menus, there is a dotted line at the top of it. By clicking on this dotted line, you detach the menu under it and it becomes a separate window.

Figure 10.2.  The “Acquire” submenu and its detached submenu

Detached submenus originating from the Toolbox are only visible when the Toolbox is active. Detached submenus originating from the Image window are actually independent. They are always visible, their functions always apply to the current image, and they persist when all of the images are closed. You can close a detached submenu by clicking on the dotted line again or closing the window from the window manager on your computer (often by clicking on an X icon in the upper right corner of the window).