Google Docs – Working with images (part 1)

Images make a document for more interesting and also easier to understand. Here we’ll look at working with images and as there is a lot to cover, this post will be in two parts. We’ll cover the following:

Part 1

• Inserting images
  • Uploading
  • Taking a snapshot
  • By URL
  • Google albums
  • Google Drive
  • Search

Part 2

• Editing an image
  • Resizing
  • Border – line colour, thickness, style
  • Cropping
  • Rotating
  • Resetting
  • Replacing
• Positioning an image in a text
  • InLine
  • Wrap text
  • Break text

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Inserting images

There are various ways you can insert an image into Google Docs and this will depend on where the image is to start with.

Either click on the image icon on the toolbar,

or go to the “Insert” menu and choose “Image”.

Both options give you 6 ways to insert an image:

• Upload
• Take a snapshot
• By URL
• Your albums
• Google Drive
• Search

Let’s look at them one-by-one.

First, decide where in your document you want the image to be added and click on that place, so your cursor is there.

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Uploading an image from your computer

Click Upload from computer. This opens the folder directory, and you locate your file and double click it to select and upload it. It’ll appear on your document, where your cursor was.

Alternatively you can drag the file from its location into the middle of the screen. This then uploads it automatically.

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Search the web

Choosing this option will open up Google image search in the sidebar. It’s great to be able to access this right from within Docs, so you don’t have to leave the document you’re working on.

In the box at the top, type the item you want to look for, for example “caterpillar” and press Enter and up will pop a selection of images, similar to a normal Google search page.

Find the image you want and click it.

At the bottom you’ll see a blue bar appear. Click “Insert” to add it to your document. Note, you can insert multiple documents by just clicking different ones.

Alternatively, you can just drag the image from the sidebar to where you want it on your page.

Drive

If you have images on your Google Drive, you can add directly into your Doc. Click on “Drive” and the Google Drive sidebar will open.

By default, it will open your recently opened and uploaded images. You can also search for images in your Drive, Shared with me, Starred files, and files backed up from your computer (the last two you need to click on the arrow to scroll to them. You can also click on the magnifying glass to type in a search.

Click on the image(s) you want and click insert from the blue bar at the bottom.

Photos

This will show you photos in your Google albums, which you can click on to select and then press the “Insert” button to add it to your document.

By URL

If you know the URL of an image, you can paste it in the box and this will show a preview of the image.

Then click “Insert” to add it to the document.

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Camera

This allows you to take photos using your webcam. Click on “Camera” then your webcam should turn on and you’ll see a lovely video of yourself.

Click on the camera icon to take a picture and the photo will appear to the right of the main screen.

You can take multiple photos. Once you’re ready, click the photos you want to insert and click “Insert” to add the pictures.

To learn all about editing images in Google Docs and changing image properties, check out part 2 of this post.

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