Sometimes, the images you add in your document may not be the right size so you have to resize them. For example, you might want to reduce the number of pages you use when you are pritning a document with images. You can do this by reducing the size of the images.
Another reason why you might want to resize your image is to improve its look. When your images don’t have a good resolution, they tend to look pixelated. Reducing their size would make them look better.
Google Docs gives you several options for resizing your image. In this article, we will be talking about the following four methods you can use to resize your images.
3 ways to Resize an Image in Google Docs
- Using the anchors on your image
- Using image options
- Cropping your image
Note that this article is meant for complete beginners. So, even if you’ve never used Google Docs before, you can follow along!
With that introduction, let’s get started.
Method 1: Using the anchors on your image
The first method involves using the anchors on your image to adjust its size. This method is useful if you only want to adjust the size of your image and not change other features (e.g. brightness).
Here are the steps for this method.
Step 1: Open your Google Docs document.
The first step is to open your Google Docs document. You can do this by going to the Google Docs homepage at docs.google.com. Then, select a document under ‘Recent documents’. Make sure that you are first signed into your Google account.
If you don’t already have a document, you can create a new one. Just click on the plus sign at the top of the screen to create a blank document. Or, you can choose one of the many templates Google Docs offers for resumes, reports, etc.
(Optional) Step 2: Upload your image.
If you already have the image that you want to resize in your document, you can skip this step. If you don’t, we will explain how to upload an image in your document in this section.
Click on the ‘Insert’ tab at the top left corner of the screen. From the drop down menu, select ‘Image’. Then, select a method for uploading your image (e.g. from your computer, by pasting a link, etc.).
Step 3: Use the anchors on the image to resize it.
Identify the image you would like to resize and click on it. You will now see the anchors on the image that will allow you to adjust its size.
The top and bottom anchors allow you to change the size of the image in the vertical direction. The left and right anchors allow you to change the size of the image in the horizontal direction.
But one problem with changing the image in this way is that it will change the image’s aspect ratio. The aspect ratio is the ratio of the image’s height to width. When this ratio is changed, the image may appear pixelated.
One solution to this is to scale the image using the anchors at the corners. Doing this will keep the ratio the same while allowing you to change its size.
Method 2: Using image options
You can also resize your images by using the image options that Google Docs offers. The benefit of using this method is that it gives precision. You can specify the exact width and length you want the image to have, how much you want to scale it and more.
Step 1: Click on the image you want to resize and open up image options.
First, identify the image you would like to resize and click on it. This will show its anchors and open up a small menu at the bottom left corner.
Click on the three vertical dots on this menu. Then, select ‘Size & rotation.’ This will open a panel to the right of the screen where you can adjust the image options.
Step 2: Change the image options.
On the panel, you have several options for changing the size of your image. Firstly, you can change the width and height of your image.
You can also proportionally resize your image. This means that you resize your image while keeping its aspect ratio the same. To do this, just make sure that the ‘Lock aspect ratio’ option is selected.
If you don’t want the aspect ratio to be kept the same, uncheck this option.
You can also change the scale of the width and height. This is in percentages so if you want to make the image bigger than it already is, enter a percentage above 100. If you want to make the image smaller than it is, enter a percentage below 100.
You can also rotate the image and change its other features, such as brightness.
Method 3: Cropping your image
The next method of resizing your images is by cropping it. When you crop an image, you remove a certain portion of the image. There are two benefits of doing this:
- You can remove any unnecessary portions of the image.
- You can highlight a particular aspect of the image.
Hence, you should use this method only if you want to remove a particular portion of the image. If you want to keep everything in the image, use one of the other two methods instead.
There are three ways of cropping an image in Google Docs:
- By double clicking the image
- By right clicking the image
- By going to the Drawing window.
Hence, we will be dividing this method into 3 sub-methods.
With that said, let’s learn the steps for this method.
Method 3.1: Double click the image
The first method is to simply double click the image and crop it. Here are the steps.
Step 1: Double click the image you would like to resize.
First, identify the image you would like to resize and double click it. This will open the cropping options.
Step 2: Use the anchors to crop the image.
You can use the anchors at the edges of the image to crop it. For example, if you wanted to crop the top of the image, simply drag the anchor at the top. Then, press Enter to finalize it. This is what the final image will look like:
The top portion of the image that you selected will be removed.
You can also select the ‘Crop image’ option from the toolbar and follow step 2 to crop the image.
Method 3.2: Right click the image and select the cropping option
This is another method of cropping your image. Below are the steps.
Step 1: Select the image you would like to resize and right click on it.
First, identify the image you would like to resize and select it. Then, right click on it to open a drop down menu.
Step 2: Click on the ‘Crop image’ option.
From the drop down menu, click on the ‘Crop image’ option. This will show the anchors on the image that you can use to crop it. Another way of cropping it is by changing its position.
Method 3.3: Go to the Drawing window
You can also go to the Drawing window to crop your image. The great thing about this method is that you can crop your image in the form of different shapes (circle, square, etc.).
Another benefit of this method is that it allows you to edit other things about your image as well. For example, you can add and edit borders to the image. You can also add a text box inside it.
Below are the steps.
Step 1: Select the image you would like to resize and copy it.
Identify which image you want to resize and press Control + C (or Command + C if on a Mac) on your keyboard to copy the image.
Step 2: Click on the ‘Insert’ tab.
Next, click on the ‘Insert’ tab at the top left corner of the screen. This will open a drop down menu.
Step 3: Click on the ‘Drawing’ option then select ‘New.’
Next, click on the ‘Drawing’ option from the menu, then click on ‘New.’ This will open up the Drawing window.
Step 4: Paste the image in the Drawing window.
Press Control + V (or Command + V on Mac) to paste the image in the Drawing window.
Step 5: Click on the ‘Crop image’ option in the toolbar.
Click on the image to select it. Then, from the toolbar at the top of the screen, click on the ‘Crop image’ option.
To crop the image, you can either drag the anchors or change the position of the image.
You can also crop your image into a particular shape. Click on the arrow next to the Crop icon in the toolbar to open a menu showing the different options for shapes.
Click on one of these options to crop your image in the form of that shape. Here’s an example:
Once you’re done, click on ‘Save and Close’ to insert the image.
Conclusion
We’ve finally reached the end of the article! Since we’ve covered a lot of material today, here’s a brief recap to make sure that you remember the points.
There are 3 methods you can use to resize an image in Google Docs. The first method is to simply use the anchors on the image to change its size.
If you want your image to have specific dimensions, you can also go to image options to change its size. You can either scale it or change its size in the horizontal or vertical direction.
The third method is to crop the image, which you can use if you want to remove certain portions of the image. To do this, you can double click the image, right click and select the ‘Crop image’ option or go to the Drawing window.
Thank you for reading!