How to Flip an Image in Photoshop (Canvas, Layer & Selection)

To flip an image in Photoshop, go to Image > Image Rotation and choose Flip Canvas Horizontal or Flip Canvas Vertical. That flips the whole document, every layer included. To flip just one layer or a selection, use Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal or Flip Vertical instead.

How to flip the whole image in Photoshop

Use this method when you want the entire picture mirrored — a single photo, a finished design, or a scan that came out backwards:

1. Open your image in Photoshop.
2. From the menu bar, choose Image > Image Rotation.
3. Click Flip Canvas Horizontal to mirror it left to right, or Flip Canvas Vertical to turn it upside down.
4. Save the result with File > Save As or File > Export.

The same submenu also holds the rotation commands (180°, 90° clockwise, 90° counterclockwise and Arbitrary), so you can flip and rotate from one place. Adobe notes that Image Rotation is a destructive edit that changes the file itself, so save a copy if you need to keep the original.

How to flip a layer or selection

Most Photoshop documents have more than one layer. If you only want one element mirrored — a person, a product shot, a logo — flip that layer on its own:

1. In the Layers panel, click the layer you want to flip. To flip only part of it, make a selection first with the Marquee or Lasso tool.
2. Choose Edit > Transform.
3. Click Flip Horizontal or Flip Vertical.

Everything else in the document stays where it is. To flip several layers together, Shift-click or Ctrl-click (⌘-click on Mac) them in the Layers panel before choosing the command.

Using Free Transform

If you are already resizing or rotating the layer, you can flip it without leaving Free Transform:

1. Press Ctrl + T (Windows) or ⌘ + T (Mac).
2. Right-click inside the bounding box.
3. Choose Flip Horizontal or Flip Vertical, then press Enter to commit.

How to flip an image in Photoshop on iPad and mobile

The touch versions of Photoshop flip layers rather than the whole canvas:

• Photoshop on iPad: select the layer, enter transform mode, and tap the horizontal flip or vertical flip icon at the top of the screen.
• Photoshop on iPhone and Android: open your image, select Layer properties > Transform, choose Flip layer horizontally or Flip layer vertically, then tap the checkmark to apply.

If your image is a single layer, flipping that layer gives the same result as flipping the whole picture.

Which flip command should you use?

What you want to flip	Command
The whole image, all layers	Image > Image Rotation > Flip Canvas Horizontal / Vertical
One layer	Edit > Transform > Flip Horizontal / Vertical
Part of a layer	Make a selection, then Edit > Transform > Flip
A layer you are already resizing	Ctrl/⌘ + T, right-click, Flip
Only your view, not the file	View > Flip Horizontal (recent versions)

The last option is a painter’s trick: it mirrors what you see on screen so you can spot proportion problems with fresh eyes, but it doesn’t change a single pixel. Choose it again to switch back.

Why can’t I flip an image in Photoshop?

Flip Horizontal is greyed out under Edit > Transform

This almost always means the Background layer is selected. A Background layer is locked, so Transform commands don’t work on it. Click the lock icon next to the layer in the Layers panel to turn it into a normal layer, then try again. Alternatively, use Image > Image Rotation, which works on the Background layer too.

Only one part of the image flipped

Edit > Transform only affects the selected layers. If other layers stayed put, either select them all before flipping or use Image > Image Rotation to flip the entire canvas at once.

The text in my image is now backwards

A horizontal flip mirrors everything, including type. If your document has a live text layer, flip the image layers and leave the text layer alone. If the text is baked into a photo, there is no way around it — choose whether the mirrored composition or readable text matters more.

The image looks flipped, but the saved file isn’t

Check the View menu. If Flip Horizontal is ticked there, you only mirrored the view. Untick it, then flip with Image Rotation or Edit > Transform before saving.

A faster way to flip an image without Photoshop

Photoshop is overkill if all you need is a mirrored copy of a photo. If you just need the picture flipped, our free image flipper does it in one click without uploading anything. Drop in the image, pick horizontal, vertical or both, and download it as PNG, JPG or WebP.

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 — handy when you would otherwise be running the same Photoshop command on file after file.

Designing in Canva instead? See how to flip an image in Canva for the desktop and mobile steps.