Google Slides guide · Updated for 2026
How to Remove an Image Background in Google Slides
There are two different controls here: Remove background clears the background from a picture on paid Google plans, and Opacity makes an image transparent in Google Slides as a whole. Here is what each one does, who gets it, and a free route for everyone else.
Can Google Slides remove a background?
Yes, although many guides still say it can't. Google added a Remove background tool, powered by Gemini, to Slides in March 2024. It is not part of every account, though. According to Google's Help Center it needs one of these:
- Google Workspace Business Standard or Plus, or Enterprise Standard or Plus. Business Starter and Enterprise Starter are not listed.
- Education accounts with the Google AI Pro for Education or the Teaching and Learning add-on.
- Personal accounts on a Google AI Pro or Google AI Ultra plan. Google AI Plus is not listed for this feature.
A free Gmail account does not get it, with one exception: Workspace Experiments, Google's testing program for personal accounts, lists background removal for Slides, with the warning that availability may vary. Google's AI features and Workspace Experiments both require you to be 18 or older. The feature started in English and has been offered in more than 20 languages since May 2025.
How to remove background in Google Slides
Google documents these steps for Slides on a computer; there are no official steps for the mobile apps.
1. Click the image on your slide
Select the picture you want to clean up. Google describes the tool for images placed on a slide.
2. Choose Edit image, then Remove background
The same command is in the menu bar under Format, then Image, then Edit image, then Remove background. Google's launch post also mentions a right-click option and a toolbar button.
3. Check the result, and undo if needed
Look at the edges on the slide. If you want the original back, use Undo or Version history: Google notes that Reset image does not restore a picture after its background was removed.
Since September 2026, Edit image opens Google Pics, Google's new image editor, for some accounts. Pics' help pages don't list a background removal tool, and Pics downloads images only as JPEG, which cannot hold transparency. If Edit image opens Pics for you, look for Remove background elsewhere in the image menus.
How to make an image transparent on Google Slides
The setting most people find first is a different one. Click the image, choose Format, then Format options, and under Adjustments move the Opacity slider. Older Google pages call it Transparency.
It fades the entire picture, subject included, so more of the slide shows through. That is useful for a watermark or a background photo behind text, but it cannot make only the background disappear. On Android, Google's help lists Format, then Adjustments; for iPhone and iPad it gives no steps.
Tools that look related but don't remove a background
- Mask image, the small arrow next to Crop, trims the picture to a shape such as a circle. The background inside the shape stays.
- Crop cuts the edges of the rectangle.
- Recolor tints the whole image.
- Replace image swaps the picture for another file.
- Replace background and Expand, Gemini tools added in 2025 on eligible plans, generate new image content from a prompt or a size choice rather than leaving the background empty.
No paid plan? Bring in a transparent PNG
If your account doesn't have Remove background, clear the background before the image reaches Slides. CutoutBG AI does it in the browser: upload the photo, keep Transparent, and download a PNG at the size you uploaded. Guests get three images a day, signed-in users ten, and nothing is watermarked.
Then add the PNG to your slide as an image from your computer. The empty area stays empty, so the subject sits on your slide's own color or layout instead of in a white box.
The same PNG works in PowerPoint, which has its own background tools.
FAQ
Why don't I see Remove background in Google Slides?
Most often the account isn't on an eligible plan: free Gmail, Business Starter and Google AI Plus are not listed. It can also be because you are on the mobile app, or because Edit image opens Google Pics on your account.
How to make an image transparent in Google Slides
Click the image, open Format, then Format options, and lower Opacity under Adjustments. The subject fades along with everything else; for a clean cutout, use Remove background on an eligible plan, or insert a transparent PNG.
How to remove background from picture in Google Slides
Click the picture and choose Edit image, then Remove background, or use Format, then Image, then Edit image. It needs an eligible Workspace or Google AI plan and, according to Google's documentation, a computer.
How to remove background in Google Slides for free
With a free Gmail account, the built-in tool is not included unless you are in Workspace Experiments. The free route is to remove the background elsewhere, download a transparent PNG and insert it on the slide.
Can I undo Remove background?
Yes, with Undo or from Version history. Google points out that Reset image does not bring the original picture back after the background was removed.
Clear the background before it reaches your slide
Upload the photo, save the transparent PNG, and place it on any slide without a white box.
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