Reference number: CH000989

How do I crop an image?

Question:

How do I crop an image?

Answer:

Cropping an image allows you to cut out any portion of the image you don't like and/or make an image smaller. This document contains the steps performed to crop an image in each of the major image editors. To the right is a visual example of a large image, such as a image scanned into the computer being cropped to a smaller image. If you would like to keep everything in the image but make it smaller you want to resize the image. Additional information about how to do this is found on document CH000998.

IrfanView

1. Open the image in IrfanView
2. Click the mouse and drag a box around the section you wish to crop.
3. Click Edit and then Crop selection

Picasa

1. Open Google Picasa and browse to the image location and double-click the image you wish to crop.
2. Once the image has been opened click the Crop button.
3. Either drag a box around the selection you wish to crop or click 4 x 6, 5 x 7, or 8 x 10 if you're wanting to crop the image to a hard copy image.

Microsoft Paint users

Microsoft Paint does not have an easy to use crop feature like many other image editors. However, with a few extra steps Microsoft Paint users can still crop images.

If the image is similar to the above example, with white or empty portions on the right and bottom of the image you can use the image grabbers on the bottom right corner of the image and click and drag the image up to the left until you have only the image selected and then let go.

If you wish to crop a portion of the image that is not on the top left of the image or you simply want to crop any other portion of the image follow the below steps.

1. Open the image in Microsoft Paint.
2. Click on the select tool and drag it around the portion you wish to crop.
3. Once selected click Edit and then Copy.
4. Click File and click New.
5. In the new image click Edit and click Paste.
6. Finally, save the cropped image as a different name or as the same name if you wish to overwrite the other file.

The GIMP

1. Open the image in The GIMP.
2. Use the rectangle marquee to select what portion of the image you wish to crop.
3. Click Image at the top of the image tool bar.
4. Click Crop Image.

Adobe Photoshop users

1. Open the image in Adobe Photoshop.
2. Select the portion of the image you wish to crop using the marquee tool.
3. Click Image
4. Click Crop

Additional information:

• See document CH000760 for a listing of image editors, additional information about each editor, and links to downloads.
• Additional information about resizing an image can be found on document CH000998.
• See our crop dictionary definition for additional information about this term.