Remove the Background From an Image in PowerPoint: Step-by-Step Guide
Step 1: Open your presentation in PowerPoint or create a new one.
Step 2: Click Insert followed by Pictures, then choose where you want to insert your image from. This user is inserting something saved on “this PC”. You may also have an image icon on the slide which you can press to insert an image.
Step 3: Double-click on the image you want to insert to place it on the slide.
Step 4: The image will appear in the selected area on the slide. If it doesn’t appear exactly where you want it, you can move and resize it until it’s just right.
Step 5: Making sure the image is still selected (just left-click on it once if it isn’t), look for the Remove Background button under the Picture Format tab.
Step 6: Click the Remove Background button and the background of the image should turn purple – don’t panic; this is normal.
Step 7: You can now manually adjust the background removal or click Keep Changes if you’re happy. In this instance, a tiny bit of blue has been missed to the right-hand side of the sun. In instances like this, click Mark Areas to Remove and use the pencil-style cursor to manually adjust the image. A single click on any area of missed background should delete it. Similarly, you can use the Mark Areas to Keep tool if you find that PowerPoint has overzealously cut out some of the foreground image.
Step 8: Once you’ve adjusted the image to your liking, click Keep Changes and you should see your image with no background.
What to Do When You’ve Removed Your Image Background
Step 1: If you removed a lot of background, you might want to crop the image to make it more manageable. Click on the image once to select it and look for the Crop option on the right-hand side of the menu ribbon.
Step 2: You can crop the image into a specific shape, which can help if you’re matching the slide elements to a particular brand package. Just hover over Crop to Shape to see the options.
Step 3: Click the shape you want to instantly crop the image.
Step 4: Alternatively, the standard Crop option allows you to cut away as much or as little of the image as you like. Click Crop then use the black handles to adjust the image.
Step 5: Even though the image has had its background removed, you’ll notice that it’s grey rather than white. That’s because of the Background Styles. To change this, head to View then Slide Master — a view that allows you to make broad changes to every slide.
Step 6: Under the Slide Master tab, click the dropdown menu next to Background Styles, and then click Format Background. Note: You won’t be able to see images on this view as it’s only showing elements that affect every slide.
Step 7: Click the shape you want to adjust and select “No Fill” to ensure the background color is completely removed.
Step 8: Head back to View and select Normal — you’ll see that the image now has a completely white background, which you can change at any time.
Thanks for your feedback!
