Using Masks and Layers—Painting, Filling, and Color Tools - GIMP 2.6 for Photographers: Image Editing with Open Source Software - page 223

3.7.3 Typing Text and Defining the Text Attributes
Figure 3.47
GIMP's Text Editor. The text boundary box surrounding the text is visible in the image
window. The text is adapted to the new frame size.
Select the Text tool in the Toolbox. Double-click on the icon if the text options
dialog does not pop up automatically.
The mouse pointer changes to a text cursor. Click the cursor into your
image where you want to type text. Your text will start right at the point you
have clicked. But actually, you cannot type text directly on an image. Instead,
text is typed in GIMP's Text Editor . The Text Editor window opens after clicking
onto the image with the Text tool . It´s dialog is used for typing new text,
inserting line breaks, and/or correcting and editing existing text. Pressing
Enter creates a line break in your text.
Click the Text Editor´s Open button to insert text from a text document
that you have saved on your computer with another program. But be aware
that all text documents besides *.txt files contain formatting, a mark-up which
will be pasted and inserted too - as text. The Clear button will delete the entire
text in the Text Editor dialog and in the accompanying text layer in the image.
In principle, you can select the direction your text reads, either from left
to right (LTR) or from right to left (RTL), by clicking the corresponding button
in the dialog box. However, RTL may not work on operating systems which are
set to a language that reads left to right.
Initially, the text will appear in a standard font in the Text Editor . The font
you selected in the Tool Options dialog will appear in your Text Editor if you
check the Use selected font box. However, the size will be different in the editor.
Text typed in the editor will appear in the image. Simultaneously, a
separate text layer will be added in the Layers dialog.