How to Flip an Image in Google Docs (2023)

Written by Emilija Google Workplace / Docs

- 4 min read

Do you need to flip/mirror an image in and place it in Google docs but you are not very handy with advanced image-editing tools like Photoshop?

Well, worry not because Google Docs has features that can easily flip and reverse the sides of the images in the document.

You can flip an image vertically or horizontally depending on whether you want to show the right side on the left or the bottom of the image on the top.

Flipping images in Google Docs is an easy process, just follow the steps in the blog post to learn how you can achieve it.

Let’s dive in.

Steps to flipping an image in Google Docs

The quickest way to flip an image in Google Docs is by using the drawing tool, which is a built-in feature that can be found in the Insert menu.

This way you won’t need to switch between apps and waste time on different editing tools.

The flipping can be done within the document and here is how:

  1. Copy the image by clicking on the image and then pressing Ctrl + C.

unflipped photo in google docs

  1. Go to the Insert menu, click on the Drawings tool, then click New.

insert menu drawing tool in google docs

  1. Insert the drawing (image) by pressing Ctrl + V.

drawing tool image

  1. Once the image is in the drawing window, click on it to select it.
  2. Click on the Actions menu, click on Rotate and select Flip horizontally (or vertically) to flip the image.

actions menu

  1. Click the Save and Close button in the upper right corner to put the image in your document.

drawing tool save and close option

Your image is now flipped and what was on the right is now on the left side.

Google docs flipped image

How to rotate the image in Google Docs

In case you want to rotate an image in Google Docs, that can be done as well following almost the same steps that we mentioned for flipping images.

  1. Go to the Insert menu, click on the Drawings tool then click New.
  2. Insert the image by pressing Ctrl + V.
  3. Once the image is in the drawing window, click on it to select the image.
  4. Click on the Actions menu, click on the Rotate option, and select rotate clockwise 90.
  5. Click the Save and Close button to put the image in your document.

Your image is now rotated and what was on top is now on at the bottom.

Additionally, users can also flip text using this method. However, once saved, the text will take an image format.

Meaning that you can’t retype what you wrote anymore.

Bonus: How to rotate text in Google Slides.

Conclusion

Google Docs offers many features that help users create neat and polished documents by adding images, tables, or even pie charts.

Regarding the images, this software supports some basic editing features that allow users, especially beginners, to easily edit the photos by flipping or rotating them.