[Gimp-user] Off-canvas editing

[Eduard Braun <Eduard Braun2 gmx de>]

Hello everybody,

I don't now if this is just a stupid question or if this is a software 
limitation or if there is even a setting for it I haven't found yet but 
why are we not able to edit layers outside the canvas?

I often create images were the canvas size is fixed (e.g. display 
resolution). I then add layers to it that are often larger than the 
canvas. I would now want to select the superfluous parts of the just 
added images (e.g. to make them transparent), but I can't select parts 
of the layers that are not on canvas!

I also can not see any layer content that is off-canvas. A workflow I'd 
prefer would be copy everything somewhere (not necessarily inside the 
canvas) and then align it layer by layer, which is hard when one can not 
see the content of the off-canvas layers.

I hope my question is clear and am looking for your answers!

Regards,
Eduard