How to Mirror / Flip an image in Google Doc

Flipping an image refers to mirroring it. You can think of it as taking an image and putting it in front of the mirror. The reflection that you see in the mirror is the flipped image.

There are two main ways in which you can flip an image:

Horizontally and Vertically.

When you flip an image horizontally, its right and left sides are reversed.

When you flip an image vertically, its top and bottom sides are reversed.

For example, say you have an image of an arrow pointing to the left. When you flip this image horizontally, you will have an image that points to the right. Similarly, if you have an image of an arrow pointing upwards, flipping it vertically will give you an image that points downwards.

Google Docs allows you to flip your images in a few simple steps. In this article, we will walk you through the steps of how to insert and flip an image in Google Docs.

Specifically, we will talk about how you can automatically flip images in your document, and manually rotate them.

Let’s start.


Method 1: Automatically flipping images

In this section, we will be talking about how you can automatically flip images from ‘Drawings.’ Follow along with the steps below!

Step 1: Open your Google Docs document.

(Optional) Step 2: Upload your image.

If your document already contains the image you want to flip, you can ignore this step.

There are several ways you can upload an image into your Google Docs document. The easiest way is to drag and drop the image into your document. 

Another way is to click on the ‘Insert’ tab and hover over ‘Image’ (which is the first option in the drop-down menu). This will open up another drop-down menu that gives you several options for uploading an image. For example, if your image is downloaded on your computer, choose ‘Upload from computer.’ Or, if you know the web address of your image, you can choose the ‘URL’ option.

Step 3: Cut the image.

Once you’ve uploaded the image, click on it and cut it.

You can do this by pressing Control + X (or Command + X for a Mac) or by right-clicking on the image and selecting the ‘Cut’ option.

Step 4: Open the Drawings window and paste your image.

Click on the ‘Insert’ tab, which is located in the top left corner of your screen. Next, choose the Drawings option (which is the third option in the drop-down menu). Click on ‘New.’

This will open up the Drawings window. Now, paste your image on the screen.

You can do this by pressing Control + V (or Command + V if you’re using a Mac) or by right-clicking on the screen and selecting the ‘Paste’ option.

Note: here is a quick shortcut for opening your image in the Drawings window. Select the image and a small menu will appear below it. Then, click on ‘Edit’ (the first option in this menu). This will open the Drawings window with your image on the screen. 

However, the problem with this alternative is that it doesn’t always work. If it doesn’t work for you, you can just go for the longer method of opening the Drawings window.

Step 5: Go to ‘Actions’ and flip your image.

Select your image, then click on the ‘Actions’ tab. This is the very first option in the toolbar of the Drawings window.

This will open up a drop-down menu. Click on the ‘Rotate’ option in the menu, which will open up another small drop-down menu.

In it, you will find two options for flipping your image: ‘Flip horizontally’ and ‘Flip vertically.’ Choose one option and Google Docs will flip the image for you.

Step 6: Click on ‘Save and Close.’

Finally, click on the ‘Save and Close’ option to insert this image in your document. You have successfully flipped the image!


Method 2: Flipping an image by rotating it

You can also flip an image by yourself by rotating it. However, this option is a suitable alternative to the previous method only if you want to vertically flip your images. If you want to horizontally flip your images, you should follow the previous method.

Step 1: Open your image in the Drawings window.

There are two ways of opening your image in the Drawings window. You can click on your image and select the ‘Edit’ option. 

Alternatively, you can go to the ‘Insert’ tab, click on ‘Drawings,’ then select the ‘New’ option. You can then paste your image on the screen (make sure to cut it before opening the Drawings window).

Step 2: Use the anchor or ‘Action’ menu to rotate the image.

Select your image to see its anchor points. The circular anchor point right above the image allows you to rotate it. 

To vertically flip the image, rotate it by 180 degrees.

Another way to rotate the image is by opening the ‘Actions’ menu. Click on ‘Actions’ and hover over the ‘Rotate’ option in the menu. Click on either ‘Rotate clockwise 90o’ or ‘Rotate counter-clockwise 900.’ Repeat this step to flip the image vertically. 

It is better to use the anchor to rotate the image as it takes less time and effort.

Step 3: Click on ‘Save and Close.’

Once you’re done rotating your image, you can click on ‘Save and Close.’ This will insert the image in your document.

Once your image is inserted, you can adjust its position anywhere in the document.


Conclusion 

This brings us to the end of the article.

We hope you found this article useful. Thanks for reading!

Want to know how to Flip a Text in Google Doc, Check out this tutorial.

1 thought on “How to Mirror / Flip an image in Google Doc”

Leave a Comment