How to Flip an Image in Google Docs (Horizontal & Vertical)

To flip an image in Google Docs, you have to place it inside a drawing: choose Insert > Drawing > New, add the image, then go to Actions > Rotate > Flip horizontally or Flip vertically and click Save and close. Google Docs has no Flip button for regular images — right-clicking a picture in the document only gets you rotation, cropping and color options.

How to flip an image in Google Docs

These steps work in Google Docs in any desktop browser on Windows, Mac and ChromeOS:

1. Click where you want the image, then choose Insert > Drawing > New.
2. In the Drawing window, click the Image icon in the toolbar and add your picture.
3. With the image selected, choose Actions > Rotate > Flip horizontally or Flip vertically.
4. Click Save and close to place the flipped image in your document.

In step 2 you can upload a file from your computer, pick one from Google Drive or Photos, paste a URL, or search the web. If the picture is already on your clipboard, simply press Ctrl + V (⌘ + V on Mac) inside the drawing canvas.

The Rotate submenu is also where you’ll find 90° clockwise and counter-clockwise rotation, so you can flip and rotate in the same pass. Want the image mirrored both ways? Apply Flip horizontally and then Flip vertically — the result is the same as rotating it 180°.

How to flip an image that’s already in your document

If the picture is sitting in your document as a normal image, Docs can’t flip it in place. Move it into a drawing first:

1. Click the image and press Ctrl + C (⌘ + C on Mac) to copy it.
2. Choose Insert > Drawing > New and press Ctrl + V (⌘ + V) to paste it into the canvas.
3. Click the pasted image, then choose Actions > Rotate > Flip horizontally or Flip vertically.
4. Click Save and close, then delete the original image from your document.

If the image is already inside a drawing, it’s quicker: double-click the drawing (or click it once and choose Edit) to reopen the Drawing window, select the image and flip it from the Actions menu.

Flipping an image inside a table

The same method works in a table. Click inside the cell first, then choose Insert > Drawing > New, so the finished drawing lands in that cell. Drag the corner handles afterwards if it needs to fit the column width.

Flip vs rotate in Google Docs

Rotating and flipping are easy to mix up, and Docs handles them in different places:

What you want	Where to do it
Mirror the image left to right	Drawing > Actions > Rotate > Flip horizontally
Turn the image upside down as a reflection	Drawing > Actions > Rotate > Flip vertically
Tilt the image by any angle	Drag the round handle above the selected image
Rotate by an exact number of degrees	Image options > Size & Rotation (depending on your version)

A rotation spins the picture around its center, so a person facing left ends up facing up or down. A horizontal flip mirrors it, so the same person faces right. If text in the photo still reads correctly, you rotated it; if it reads backwards, you flipped it.

How to mirror text in Google Docs

Text typed straight into a document can’t be flipped, but text inside a drawing can. This is useful for iron-on transfers, window decals or a mirror-writing puzzle:

1. Choose Insert > Drawing > New.
2. Click the Text box icon, drag out a box and type your text.
3. Click the edge of the text box to select it, then choose Actions > Rotate > Flip horizontally.
4. Click Save and close.

To change the wording later, reopen the drawing and edit the text box — the flip stays applied.

Can you flip an image in the Google Docs mobile app?

No. The Google Docs app for iPhone, iPad and Android displays drawings but can’t create or edit them, so the Actions > Rotate menu isn’t there. You have two options:

• Flip the photo before inserting it. Mirror it on your phone, then add it with Insert > Image in the app.
• Finish the job on a computer. Open the same document in a desktop browser and follow the drawing steps above.

Why can’t I flip an image in Google Docs?

There’s no Flip option when I right-click the image

That’s expected. Regular images in a document only offer options such as crop, rotate, recolor and replace. Flip exists only inside the Drawing window, so insert or copy the image into a drawing first.

Actions > Rotate is greyed out

Nothing is selected in the drawing. Click the image once so a blue border appears around it, then open the Actions menu again.

The flip didn’t show up in my document

Changes in the Drawing window are only applied when you click Save and close. If you closed the window another way, reopen the drawing, flip the image again and save.

The text in my picture is now backwards

A horizontal flip mirrors everything in the photo, including signs, logos and labels. That can’t be avoided with a flip — if readable text matters more than the direction the picture faces, leave the image unflipped.

A faster way to flip an image for Google Docs

The drawing workaround is fine for a single picture, but it is slow when you are on a phone, have a stack of photos to fix, or just want the image to stay a regular picture so cropping and the other image options keep working.

If you just need the picture flipped, our free image flipper does it in one click without uploading anything. Drop in your photo, choose horizontal, vertical or both, download it as PNG, JPG or WebP, and insert the flipped file into your document with Insert > Image.

It runs in any browser on Windows, Mac, iPhone and Android, keeps the original resolution, and can flip up to 30 images at once and save them as a single ZIP.

Making graphics in Canva too? See how to flip an image in Canva for the desktop and mobile steps.