A document always has a fixed size in pixels at a resolution, and a colour mode. It changes size only through Image ▸ Image Size…, Image ▸ Canvas Size…, Edit ▸ Crop and Image ▸ Rotate. Each document has its own window.
File ▸ New… (Ctrl+N) asks for a name, the width and height (in pixels, inches, centimeters, millimeters, points or picas), the resolution (pixels per inch or per centimeter), the colour mode — Bitmap, Grayscale, RGB Color, CMYK Color or Lab Color — and the contents of the first layer: White, Background Color or Transparent (a Bitmap document cannot start transparent). The dialog shows the resulting size in pixels and in bytes, and when an image is on the clipboard the width, height and resolution are filled in from it. New Document is also a task of the app's jump list on the taskbar.
File ▸ Open… (Ctrl+O), Open Recent, the recent files of the jump list, a file dropped on a window or double-clicked in File Explorer: every file opens as a Flare document in its own window. Flare reads TIFF, PSD (.psd and .psb), PNG, JPEG, GIF, BMP, WebP, JPEG 2000, JPEG XL, OpenEXR, Radiance, SGI, PBM/PGM/PPM, MPO, ICO, CUR, ICNS, QOI, OpenRaster (.ora), XCF (.xcf), KRA (.kra), PSP (.psp) and PDN (.pdn) images, DICOM, GPU textures (DDS, KTX, KTX2, ASTC, PVR), DPX and Cineon, Portable Float Map, PCX, Sun Raster, XBM, XPM, WBMP, and the historical PICT, Targa, MacPaint, IFF/ILBM, Pixar, PixelPaint, Scitex CT, ThunderScan and raw pixel-data formats. HEIC, HEIF and AVIF open when the corresponding image extensions of Windows are installed.
SVG, PDF, AI and EPS files are rasterized when opened: their page becomes the canvas of a new raster document. To keep such a file editable inside a document, place it instead (see below).
File ▸ Open As… (Ctrl+Alt+O) opens a file as a format you choose, when its extension does not say what it is.
A camera raw negative — DNG, Canon CR2/CR3/CRW, Nikon NEF/NRW, Sony ARW/SR2, Fujifilm RAF, Olympus ORF, Panasonic RW2, Pentax PEF and the other supported makers — opens as a 16-bit document developed with neutral settings.
File ▸ Import from Camera or Scanner… brings pictures in from a connected camera, phone or scanner; each picture opens as a document.
File ▸ Save… (Ctrl+S) writes the document back into the format it came from. A document created with File ▸ New is a TIFF — Flare's native format: a TIFF that keeps every layer, transparency and 16-bit data, and still opens as a flat image in any other application. Saving a layered document into a flat or lossy format (PNG, JPEG, …) flattens it; the first time you do that for a given file Flare asks whether to save anyway or save a copy. TIFF, PSD and PSB never ask.
File ▸ Save As… (Ctrl+Shift+S) offers TIFF, PSD (.psd), Large Document Format (.psb), OpenRaster, PNG, JPEG, GIF, BMP, HEIC, WebP, JPEG XL, AVIF, OpenEXR, JPEG 2000, PNM, QOI, Portable Float Map, DPX, Cineon, Raster PDF, Targa, PICT, Pixar, EPS, raw pixel data, PCX, Sun Raster, X BitMap, X PixMap, Wireless Bitmap, IFF/ILBM, MacPaint, PixelPaint, Scitex CT and ThunderScan; a format the installed image codecs cannot write is not listed. The proposed file name follows the chosen format.
File ▸ Export ▸ Export As… (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+W) writes a copy in the format you pick without changing the document's own file. Export PNG…, Export Icon… (a multi-resolution .ico or .icns), Export HEIF Sequence… and Export Animation… (animated GIF, WebP or APNG) are the other rows of the submenu.
File ▸ Place Image… (Ctrl+K) brings a file into the open document as a new layer, with a placement box to size and position it (Enter confirms, Esc cancels). An SVG, PDF, AI, EPS or TIFF file becomes a smart object layer that keeps the placed file (see Layers); any other image becomes a pixel layer. Placing is one step in the History palette.
File ▸ Print… (Ctrl+P) prints the document; Page Setup… (Ctrl+Shift+P) sets the paper, and File ▸ Separation ▸ holds Separation Setup…, Halftone Screen… and Transfer….