Google Docs is perhaps one of the most versatile tools out there. This simple online document editor lets you not only create a quick brochure, but also design custom templates. While Google Docs is a nifty tool, there is no simple way to crop a picture or picture in a circle. When creating an image-heavy document, editing and then importing photos can be time-consuming.
There’s a nifty way to crop a picture to a circle (or any shape) in Google Docs. This is an easy peasy process and takes barely a minute.
The idea is to take the help of the Drawing tool here and then edit the image according to your need.
How to crop an image in a circle or square in Google Docs.
How to Crop a Picture to Surround in Google Docs
Stage 1: Launch Google Docs and open a document. Now move the cursor to the position where you want to place the image.
Next, open the Insert menu and select Drawing, then New.
Step 2: In the drawing popup, click on the Picture icon as shown below to insert the picture/image of your choice.
Here you can paste the link or upload the image directly.
Stage 3: Select the image and tap the small arrow next to the Crop icon. Choose Shapes From Lot > Circle.
However, the default shape is usually not the desired shape. If you upload a rectangular image, the default crop looks more like a sphere than a circle.
Step 4: Move the cursor to the corner of the image to adjust the shape and size of the image. Now slowly drag the pointer in as shown in the screenshot below. This will ensure that the cropped shape is a true circle.
Likewise, you can drag the pointer out to increase the shape.
Once you have the shape, adjust the orientation of the image to your preference. You can also add Word art to the image to add a little twist.
To do this, click Actions > Word art.
When finished, press the Save & Close button to insert the shape into the document.
The good thing about the drawing tool is that it lets you crop an image to any shape. So, if you want to crop a picture into an interesting Arrow shape, you can do it. All you have to do is resize the shape as per your need.
Also, any image you change can be copied and pasted into other Google Docs. Such images carry all the additional changes.
How to Add a Border to a Shape
Google Docs’ Drawing tool also lets you add borders to these cropped images. You can also play around with the style and weight of the frame, as with any other image.
So, after cropping the picture to the shape you want, click on the Border icon and select the desired weight.
How to Download a Cropped Image
As mentioned above, Google Docs is a versatile tool and the images you create here can be downloaded in PNG, JPG or SVG format. You can use these images in other Google tools like Slides.
Fortunately, downloading an image in any format is pretty simple.
Double-click the picture to open the drawing panel. Next, click Action on the left, and then select Download.
Just choose the format you want and that’s it! Google Docs will download the image directly to your computer’s Downloads folder. The only problem is that you have to adjust the transparency using tools like GIMP, Canva or LunaPic.
About Mobile Application
Unfortunately, Google Docs for mobile doesn’t let you play around with the shape of an image. There is no direct way to crop an image.
If you’re working on a mobile app, you’ll need to use a third-party app like Canva or Paint 3D to crop the image to the required shape.
Alternatively, you can use Google Slides to crop pictures and images in other ways. But there is no way to bring this shape into Docs. Bummer, we know.
A Full Apartment
The Drawing tool in Google Docs lets you play with many elements. All you have to do is know the right tool for the job. While the above method is fine for one or two images, cropping a large number of images is not a viable solution.
You will have to rely on tools like Canva or GIMP for this. The former is an added benefit as you can crop images into shapes on both desktop and mobile.
