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IrfanView

Keep IrfanView from Closing without Prompting with a Changed Image

SUMMARY: If you edit an image in IrfanView and accidentally close the program or switch images, your changes may be lost. Add a prompt to remind you to save your modifications.

Besides being an image viewer, IrfanView provides some image editing features. You can resize images, apply a variety of effects such as Emboss and Rain Drops, and more.

Unfortunately, if you make changes to a photo and either open another file or exit the program (such as by pressing "Esc" without performing a tweak), IrfanView does not ask you to save your changes. This potential annoyance can be somewhat(*) fixed by the following configuration change:

1. From IrfanView, choose "Options" - "Properties".

2. When the "Properties/Settings" dialog box appears, make sure "Start / Exit options" is selected.

3. Underneath "Exit options", check "Ask to Save changes on program exit or file/image change".

Configuring IrfanView to warn you when closing an unsaved changed image file

4. Click "OK" to close the dialog box.

(*) There seems to be a bug with IrfanView 4.25 as noted on a test machine. Rotating an image and exiting did not cause a warning dialog box to appear. So while this tweak may show a dialog after image changes such as applying effects or resizing images, it may not work 100% of the time.

This tip was written for IrfanView 4.25 on a Windows XP system. Features, information, and screenshots for other versions and operating systems may differ.

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