Adding images to your Google Slides presentations can make them more visually appealing and help communicate your message more effectively. However, the images you find online or have on your computer may need some editing or formatting to work well in your specific slides.
Fortunately, Google Slides has some easy-to-use built-in tools that allow you to crop, resize, rotate, recolor, and make other adjustments to images without needing to use a separate image editing program. Read on to learn how to edit images right within Google Slides.
Resizing and Rotating Images
When you insert an image into your presentation, it will appear at its original pixel dimensions. However, this native size may be too large or too small for your particular slide.
To resize an image in Google Slides:
- Click on the image to select it. Sizing handles will appear around the edges.
- Drag any of the round sizing handles inward or outward to manually resize the image.
- To retain proportional dimensions, hold the Shift key while resizing.
You can also rotate images using the circular rotation handle that appears above the image when selected:
- Hover over the rotation handle until the mouse cursor changes.
- Click and drag left or right to rotate the image.
Cropping Images
Cropping allows you to cut out certain parts of an image to better frame or highlight a key area:
- Select the image, then click the “Crop image” option in the toolbar. Cropping handles will appear.
- Adjust the blue cropping handles by dragging them inward to remove outer areas.
- Click outside the image or press Enter to apply the crop.
Cropping can help you tailor images to your slide’s layout and remove unwanted background areas.
Adding Borders and Effects
Borders and graphical effects like drop shadows can make images stand out:
- Select the image, then click “Format options” in the toolbar.
- In the sidebar that appears, switch to the “Borders” tab.
- Choose a border color, width, and line style.
- Switch to the “Effects” tab to add shadows, glows, and more.
Experiment with different border colors and effects to make images fit your presentation’s visual theme.
Adjusting Color and Transparency
The “Adjust image” option in the Format options sidebar lets you recolor images and adjust their transparency:
- Choose a different color preset under “Recolor.”
- Lower “Opacity” to make the image more see-through.
- Adjust “Brightness” and “Contrast” sliders.
Subtly altering image colors and transparency can help images blend better with slide backgrounds.
Resetting Images
If you want to undo all the edits made to an image and make it appear original again:
- Select the edited image.
- Click “Reset image” in the toolbar.
This will restore the image to its original state when you first inserted it.
Masking Images into Shapes
You can creatively crop images into circles, triangles, hearts, and other shape silhouettes in Google Slides using the masking tool:
- Select the image then click “Crop image.”
- Click the dropdown arrow next to “Crop” to view shapes.
- Hover over a shape to apply as a mask. Adjust by dragging the colored handles.
Masking images helps them fit a specific layout or theme.
Conclusion
Learning how to effectively edit images in Google Slides eliminates the need for a separate image editor. With the user-friendly built-in tools, you can resize, rotate, crop, recolor, add effects, and more to optimize images for your presentations.
Experiment with the different editing options covered here to make your images look their best and keep your audience engaged from start to finish. Well-edited images tailored for each slide can bring your whole presentation to the next level visually.