How to Make an Image Background Transparent in PowerPoint

Double-click the image, then select Picture Format to find PowerPoint's built-in background remover

By
Wendy Russell
Wendy Russell
Writer
  • Brock University
Former Lifewire writer Wendy Russell is an experienced teacher specializing in live communications, graphics design, and PowerPoint software.
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Updated on May 3, 2024
Reviewed by
Jon Fisher
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Reviewed by Jon Fisher
  • Wichita Technical Institute
Jonathan Fisher is a CompTIA-certified technologist with more than 10 years of experience writing for publications like TechNorms and Help Desk Geek.
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What to Know

  • To remove a solid-color background, double-click the image and go to Picture Format > Remove Background.
  • To make a single color transparent in PowerPoint, choose Picture Format > Color > Set Transparent Color.
  • You can save your new image elsewhere by right-clicking it and choosing Save as Picture.

This article explains how to remove the background of an image in PowerPoint, making that portion transparent. Instructions apply to all versions of PowerPoint for Windows and Mac.

How to Use PowerPoint's Background Remover

When the background in a picture is a solid color, it's easy to remove the background so that only the main image appears. This allows text, another picture, or a different color to show through, making it a great way to blend your photos into the slide background.

  1. Open the slide with the image to which you want to apply a transparent background.

  2. Double-click the image. A new tab, Picture Format appears at the top of PowerPoint.

    If you have multiple images on a slide and can't select the one you want to work with, right-click any pictures that are on top of it and select Send to Back to temporarily move them out of the way.

  3. Select Remove Background from the Picture Format menu group.

    The Picture Format tab selected in PowerPoint

  4. To customize which areas of the picture are kept and which are made transparent, choose either Mark Areas to Keep or Mark Areas to Remove to designate parts of the photo that should remain or be deleted. Then, draw a line around the area on the picture.

    In PowerPoint for Mac, select What to keep or What to remove.

    A picture marked for background removal in PowerPoint

  5. Select Keep Changes to remove the background.

    Sometimes, the image ends up with more or less transparency than you'd like it to have. If so, repeat these steps. PowerPoint saves all your changes and even lets you revert to the original, non-transparent version.

To export the picture with its background removed, right-click the image and select Save as Picture.

Make a Single Color Transparent

If you'd rather set a single color as transparent, PowerPoint lets you do that, too, from the same menu:

  1. Double-click the image.

  2. From the Picture Format menu group at the top of the screen, select Color > Set Transparent Color.

    The Color menu in PowerPoint

    Mac 2011 users must choose Recolor first, and then Set Transparent Color.

  3. Select an area of the picture that is the color you want to make transparent.

Removing objects from a picture or deleting a solid color works best on images that are made up of simple colors, like clip art or cartoon-like photos. Photos and other complex images with multiple objects and similar color shades are difficult to edit in this way. For difficult photos, you can use Photoshop to delete the background. The free editor GIMP works as well.

FAQ

  • How do I make a picture transparent in PowerPoint?

    To make a picture transparent in PowerPoint, select the picture and then select the Picture Format tab > Transparency. Select a preset transparency option or select Picture Transparency Options for more choices.

  • How do I make a shape transparent in PowerPoint?

    To make a shape transparent in PowerPoint, right-click the shape and select Format Shape. Expand the Fill menu and enter a value into the Transparency menu or use the slider to adjust transparency manually.

  • How do I crop a picture in PowerPoint?

    To crop a picture in PowerPoint, double-click the image to open the Picture Format tab and select Crop to crop an image according to shape, aspect ratio, and more. You can also grab the black frame handles on the image and drag them to resize the image.

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