Gimp: paste image (from clipboard) as new layer, and crop document to that layer's size?

Question

Using Gimp latest version (2.10) on macOS Catalina.

I have an image in my clipboard. I switch to Gimp where I have a working document (image) open. How do I:

1. paste the image from my clipboard as a new layer, I can do ⌘+V to Paste it, that will show it as a 'Floating Selection (Pasted Layer)'.

2. How do I move the layer around? When I use the Move tool, it seems to move the underlying background layer.

3. Is it possible to move/scale/rotate/skew the new layer similar to Photoshop's 'Free Transform' tool? I mean where the layer gets 8 temporary control points or anchors in the corners and edges, where I can stretch it in any direction (with or without keeping aspect ratio by keeping down Shift or something) or move or rotate it?

4. How do I crop the image to the newly pasted layer's size?

P.S. apologies if these are retarded questions, completely new to Gimp, trying to make the switch from Photoshop.

Answer 1

When you paste something in Gimp you get a temporary layer call "Floating selection".

You can move it around with the Move tool, but the default behavior of the Move tool is to move the topmost layer that is opaque where you click, so if you click on a transparent area of your FS it grabs some underlying layer. You can change this behavior by shift-clicking instead to have the Move tool unconditionally move the active layer (you can also tick the appropriate box in the tool options)(*).

The FS can be also transformed with the other transform tools (scale, rotation, shear, perspective, flip, or the Unified Transform which could be what you are after (but could have a user interface which is not the PS one, so simpler tools may be easier to grasp).

(*) If this really bothers you, you can change the default, but the standard behavior is useful in most cases.