In the image below, we have separated all of the elements, or in this case, the colors.

Right click the traced image and select Ungroup. You can delete the original JPG image as we no longer need it. Now that we have traced the image we want to ungroup all of the elements. The original JPG is on the left while the traced result is on the right. The image below is the result of the Trace Bitmap scan settings. Once you are happy with the settings, click Apply. We left the rest of the settings as is and clicked on Update to get a preview of the scan. Stacking will separate the colors into stacked layers, which are easier to handle. Smooth, Stack and Remove Background were all ticked. We left the Scans at 8, just a little more than the amount of colors in the image. Click on the image to select then click on the drop down menu under Multiple Scans. As our image is in color, we will use the Multiple Scans option.

Singles Scans is generally used for black and white images. Make sure to select Trace Bitmap, the first option and then Multiple Scans. The Trace Bitmap panel will open on the right hand side. This tool can be found by going to Path > Trace Bitmap. We will be using the Trace Bitmap feature to turn our JPG into a SVG. This is more a feature that requires you to experiment until you find the result you want. Results will vary from image to image and some options available will have no effect. It is not a perfect tool that will give you consistent results. Something to note regarding the Trace Bitmap option. When you open an image in Inkscape a window called PNG Bitmap Image Import will appear. Once you have opened Inkscape, import your JPG file by going to File > Open.

Inkscape svg to jpg