How to uncrop a picture in Word, PowerPoint and Excel

In Word, PowerPoint and Excel a crop is almost always reversible. Microsoft’s own crop guide says “cropped parts of the picture are not removed from the file” (Microsoft), so you can drag the crop handles back out at any time. Google Docs and Google Slides keep the original too, through Reset image. The exceptions are files where someone deliberately deleted the cropped areas and saved.

Quick answer by app

Where the picture is	How to undo the crop	Watch out for
Word, PowerPoint or Excel on a computer	Picture Format > Crop, drag the handles outward	Delete cropped areas of pictures or Discard editing data, followed by a save
Word or PowerPoint for the web	Picture > Crop, or open the file in the desktop app	No data loss: the web apps cannot delete cropped areas
Google Docs or Slides on a computer	Right-click the image > Reset image	Reset image also removes other edits to that image
Google Docs app on Android	Tap the image > Format > Reset image	The same as on a computer
Google Slides on a phone	Use a computer instead	Google documents resetting Slides images only on a computer

Uncrop a picture with the crop handles

This works in Word, PowerPoint and Excel for Microsoft 365, on Windows and on Mac (Microsoft).

1. Select the picture.
2. On the Picture Format tab, select Crop. Black crop handles appear on the edges and corners.
3. Drag the handles outward until the hidden parts are back. Dragging past the original edge adds an empty margin, which Microsoft calls outcropping.
4. Press Esc, or click outside the picture, to finish.

If the picture now looks too big or distorted, the Reset button in the picture’s Size options removes size, rotation and scaling changes and restores its original size (Microsoft).

Reset Picture and Reset Picture & Size

The Reset Picture button sits in the Adjust group of the Picture Format tab. Microsoft describes it as removing the formatting you applied to the picture, and its help page does not say that it undoes a crop (Microsoft).

The arrow next to it offers Reset Picture & Size. A Microsoft Q&A answer recommends that option for returning a picture to its original state (Microsoft Q&A), but Microsoft’s official help pages do not document it. If it does not bring back the crop in your version of Office, use the crop handles as above.

When the cropped part is really gone

Two settings remove cropped data for good:

• Delete cropped areas of pictures. Select the picture, choose Picture Format > Compress Pictures, and select this check box to remove cropped parts from the file (Microsoft). On Windows you can still use Undo until you save. On a Mac, deleting cropped areas cannot be undone.
• Discard editing data. Under File > Options > Advanced > Image Size and Quality, this check box removes the stored data used to restore an edited picture (Microsoft). After that, the only way to undo picture edits is to insert the picture again (Microsoft).

If either was applied and the file saved, the crop is permanent in that document. Look for the original picture file or an earlier version of the document. For files stored in OneDrive, version history keeps earlier versions for 30 days, and it works with Office files (Microsoft).

Word and PowerPoint for the web

Word for the web and PowerPoint for the web offer basic cropping, but only the desktop apps can delete cropped areas (Microsoft). A crop made in the browser therefore never removes the hidden part. To adjust a crop on the web, select the picture, open the Picture tab, select the arrow next to Crop, then Crop. Microsoft’s web instructions only describe dragging the handles inward, so if the browser will not let you drag them back out, open the file in the desktop app.

Cropping is not redaction

Because cropped parts stay in the file, anyone you send a Word, PowerPoint or Excel file to can uncrop its pictures. Microsoft warns that cropped content can even be seen by search engines if the image is posted online (Microsoft). Before sharing a file with something sensitive cropped out, use Delete cropped areas of pictures and save.

Google Docs and Google Slides

Google’s editors also keep the image you inserted. On a computer:

1. Open the document or presentation.
2. Right-click the image.
3. Select Reset image. The image returns to the original photo you added to the file (Google).

Reset image undoes all changes to that image, not only the crop. Google’s help describes it as the way back and does not cover dragging the crop handles back out.

On a phone or tablet:

• Google Docs app on Android: tap the image, tap Format, then Reset image (Google).
• Google Slides: Google says to reset images on a computer, at slides.google.com (Google).

If the image was replaced or deleted, use version history. Select Last edit at the top right, choose an earlier version in the right panel, then select Restore this version and confirm with Restore. You need edit access to see a file’s version history (Google).

When the crop cannot be undone

If the cropped areas were deleted and no earlier version exists:

1. Find the original picture, for example in the folder or photo library it came from, and insert it again.
2. Check OneDrive version history or Google Docs version history for a copy of the document from before the change.
3. Ask whoever made the file for the original image.
4. If you only have a cropped image and need more of the scene, extend it for free on the uncrop.si home page. The tool adds new canvas and fills it in your browser with generated pixels. It does not recover the deleted ones, so do not use it to rebuild text, charts or figures. To fit a slide shape such as 16:9, try change aspect ratio.