How to remove an image background in Google Slides

To remove an image's background in Google Slides, click the image, then click Edit image and Remove background. You can also go through the menu at the top: Format, then Image, Edit image and Remove background. Google's help notes that the feature requires an eligible Google Workspace or Google One AI Premium subscription, so on other accounts the button is not available. In that case, remove the background elsewhere and insert the result as a transparent PNG, as described below.

Remove a background in Slides

1. Open your presentation and click the image on the slide.
2. Click Edit image, then Remove background.
3. Alternatively, at the top, click Format, then Image, then Edit image, then Remove background.

The background disappears and the slide shows through where it was. The same steps work in Google Drawings and in the canvas of a Google Vids scene; Google notes that background removal in Vids is available in English only.

Google describes the feature as part of Google Workspace with Gemini and asks for feedback through Good suggestion and Bad suggestion at the bottom left. Its help also warns not to include personal, confidential or sensitive information in that feedback, because people may read it.

Undoing a removed background

Reset image does not restore a picture whose background was removed. To go back, click Undo right away, or open Version history and restore an earlier version of the presentation. If you are unsure about the result, duplicate the slide first so the original picture stays in the deck.

Without an eligible plan: insert a transparent PNG

If your account does not include background removal, make the cutout outside Slides and insert it:

1. Open the picture in the background remover on this site. It runs in your browser, and a preview PNG up to 0.25 megapixels is free without signup or a watermark; larger Max downloads use one credit.
2. Check the edges with the before/after slider and fix any leftovers with the erase and restore brushes.
3. Download the result as a PNG, which keeps the transparent background.
4. In Google Slides, click Insert, then Image, then Upload from computer, choose the PNG and click Open.

The transparent areas show the slide's background, so the subject sits directly on your design. A JPG cannot store transparency, so a cutout saved as JPG brings back a solid box; what a transparent background is explains the formats.

Tips for a clean result on a slide

• Pick a picture with a clear subject. A single person, pet or product that stands out from its surroundings gives the cleanest cutout, in Slides or anywhere else.
• Check the edges on the slide's own color. A pale fringe that is invisible on white shows up on a dark theme, and the reverse.
• Use a large enough picture. A cutout stretched to fill a slide looks soft if the original was small.

Other presentation apps have their own tools: the PowerPoint guide covers Remove Background on the Picture Format tab, and the Canva guide covers BG Remover.