The quickest way to learn Image Editor is to open a photo and try the tools. This guide walks through each part of the workflow and explains what to do when a file won't open or save.
Images from your computer are read directly in the browser. They aren't uploaded to an Image Editor server, and you don't need to sign in.
How to open an image
Use the start page. Select Open Image From Computer and pick a file.
Use the menu bar. Choose File > Open > Open from computer..., or press Ctrl/Cmd + O.
Drag and drop. Drag an image from your desktop or a folder window onto Image Editor.
Paste an image. Copy an image in another app, return to Image Editor, and paste it.
Open a recent image. Recent files are listed on the start page and at the bottom of the Open menu; select one to reopen it.
What you can open
Image Editor supports JPEG, PNG, WebP, BMP, GIF, HEIC/HEIF, TIFF/TIF, and supported static SVG files. JPEG, PNG, and WebP can be edited and saved in the same format. Other inputs are converted to PNG for editing, and the app explains anything the conversion won't preserve.
Select Open From Google Drive on the start page, or choose File > Open > Open from Google Drive... in the menu bar. Sign in with the account that can access the image, then choose it in the Google file picker.
Good to know
Access is limited. Image Editor can work with files you select or create with the app, not everything in your Drive.
Shared files are supported. You can open an image from a shared drive or a file shared with your account. If you only have view access, use File > Make a copy to continue in a copy of your own in My Drive, which opens in a new tab.
Use the same Google account. If the picker shows the wrong files, close it and make sure you're signed in with the account that has access.
Open with, from Drive itself. Click Add to Drive in the app's header (next to the theme button) once and sign in. After that, right-click an image in Google Drive and choose Image Editor in the Open with menu.
Select Create New Image on the start page, choose File > New image in the menu bar, or visit imageeditor.app/new. A blank canvas opens right away: a transparent 1600 by 1200 pixel PNG. To change the size or background, open Image size on the toolbar or choose Tools > Image size... in the menu bar.
Choose the canvas
Use a preset. Pick a common size from the Image dimension menu and swap the orientation if needed.
Enter a custom size. Set the width and height in pixels.
Choose a background. Start transparent for a logo or cutout, or use a solid color for a ready-made background.
Very large dimensions need much more browser memory than the final compressed file. Image Editor warns before applying unusually large dimensions.
Choose a tool beside the preview, or pick it from Tools > Mode in the menu bar. You can switch tools at any time, and your earlier changes stay in place. The toolbar above the image adds zoom and fit-to-view controls, rotate and flip buttons, Image size, and an Aspect ratio menu for the crop. On a phone the toolbar keeps Rotate left and Flip horizontal, and the Tools menu has every turn and flip. On a larger screen, whenever the toolbar is hidden or the editor is full screen, the Crop tool shows its own rotate and flip buttons instead.
What each tool does
Crop: Reframe, straighten, rotate, flip, or scale the image. A crop takes effect as soon as you let go of the handle, so there is nothing extra to apply. Choose Done on the toolbar to fit the view to the area you kept. The handles stay, so you can adjust the crop again at any time, and Undo steps back a change.
Filter: Apply a ready-made color style. Choose Default to remove the filter.
Use the Undo and Redo toolbar buttons or the standard keyboard shortcuts. Revert all changes, next to them, returns to the image state loaded at the start of the editing session. Use Undo when you only want to step back once.
Full screen and themes
Choose Full screen at the right end of the toolbar, or press Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + F, for a focused editing layout. The menu button next to it hides or shows the menu bar; while the menu bar is hidden, the toolbar shows an Open menu and a More actions menu with the same commands (on a phone, Rotate left and Flip horizontal move into More actions). The theme button in the header cycles the System, Light, and Dark themes without discarding your edits. The workspace also adapts to phones and tablets, though detailed drawing and text placement are often easier on a larger screen.
An image opened from Google Drive with edit access autosaves as you edit. An image from your computer is written only after your first manual save, which grants file access or picks the destination; from then on it autosaves too. The status beside the filename shows what has been saved.
Save to the current file
A local PNG, JPEG, or WebP. Press the Save button or Ctrl/Cmd + S. In Chrome, Edge, Opera, and other supported Chromium browsers, approve the write-permission prompt the first time it appears.
A Google Drive image. Save writes back to that Drive file when you have edit access.
A converted image. BMP, GIF, HEIC/HEIF, TIFF, and SVG need a new PNG, JPEG, or WebP file because Image Editor can't preserve every feature of the original format.
Choose a different destination
Save as..., on the toolbar next to Save, creates a new local file and sends future saves to it. In a browser without a save-file dialog it downloads a copy instead, and you keep editing the file you had open.
Edit in Drive, on the app bar, creates a Drive file and sends future saves to it.
Update in Drive replaces that button when an image was sent here from another app and originally came from a Google Drive file. It signs you in to the account that file belongs to and saves your edits back to the original. The first time, Google Drive asks you to select the original file once so Image Editor is allowed to change it. If the file cannot be found or edited, you can save the image as a new Drive file instead.
Make a copy, in the File menu, saves the image as it is on screen to a new file in the same Drive folder as the original, named "Copy of" followed by the original name, and opens that copy in a new tab. If that folder can't take the copy, for example because the image is view-only, the copy goes to My Drive and the new tab says so. The tab you are in stays on the file you had open, with your edits and the Undo history as they were.
Download, on the app bar, downloads the current image while keeping you in the file you were already editing.
If a local save or download fails
Check that the device has free space, approve any browser permission prompt, and confirm that downloads are allowed for imageeditor.app. If saving the current file keeps failing, use Save as... on the toolbar or Download on the app bar to create a separate file.
These commands appear once the open image lives in Google Drive. An image from your computer gets them after Edit in Drive.
Share. Choose Share on the app bar or File > Share... to open Google's own sharing dialog for the file. What you can change there depends on your access to the file. If the dialog can't open, the message offers Open in Drive so you can share from Drive itself.
Move.File > Google Drive > Move... opens a folder picker and moves the file to the folder you choose. You need edit access to the file.
Open.File > Google Drive > Open opens the file's Drive page in a new tab.
Locate.File > Google Drive > Locate opens the file's folder in Drive in a new tab, with the file selected.
Make a copy.File > Make a copy saves the image as it is on screen to a new file beside the original, or in My Drive when that folder can't take it, and opens that copy in a new tab. The tab you are in stays on the file you had open. If the browser blocks the new tab, a message offers Open copy.
While the menu bar is hidden, the More actions menu on the toolbar has the copy, move, open, and locate commands, and Share stays on the app bar.
The same file can change while you have it open: another person edits the Drive file, or another program updates the local file. Image Editor checks before overwriting and pauses if it finds a newer version.
Your choices
Keep your version. Confirm that you want your edited image to replace the other version.
Use the newer version. Load the file that changed elsewhere instead of overwriting it.
Keep both. Use Save as..., Make a copy, or Download before deciding.
Decide later. Dismiss the warning and keep editing. Autosave stays paused for that file, and nothing is overwritten until you decide.
Image Editor protects your work in two ways: by autosaving to the image's own file once that is safe to do, and by keeping a recovery draft in this browser on this device.
When the file autosaves
A Google Drive image you can edit autosaves as you work; no first manual save is needed.
An image from your computer autosaves after your first manual save, which grants file access or picks the destination.
Autosave pauses if the file changed somewhere else, and a converted format always needs a new file first. The status beside the filename shows what has been saved.
How recovery drafts work
A separate safety copy. When browser storage is available, Image Editor records the original image and your current edits after a short pause. A draft never overwrites your files.
Restores after an interruption. If the tab reloads, crashes, or closes unexpectedly, the app can offer or restore the latest unsaved draft.
Uses a new Undo baseline. The restored image and edits return, but the full step-by-step Undo history doesn't.
Important
Draft saved to this device means the browser safety copy is current; it doesn't mean the file was saved. Browser data can be cleared, blocked, or run out of space. If recovery is unavailable, keep the tab open and save the image before leaving.
Reload the page once. If the workspace still doesn't appear, a network filter, ad blocker, or security extension may be blocking a file served by imageeditor.app. Try a private window to rule out extensions, then update or try another current browser.
HEIC or TIFF does not open
Very large, damaged, or unsupported variants may be refused. BigTIFF, RAW, and DNG aren't supported. Export a JPEG or PNG copy in another app and open that copy. If you contact Support, include the exact error text, file size, and approximate pixel dimensions.
The image opens but cannot overwrite
BMP, GIF, HEIC/HEIF, TIFF, and SVG need a new PNG, JPEG, or WebP file because their original structure can't be reproduced. Choose Save and follow the prompts, or use Save as... on the toolbar, or Edit in Drive or Download on the app bar.
The editor is slow or runs out of memory
Close other memory-heavy tabs and apps, then try again. A compressed photo can expand to several times its file size during editing. If needed, make a smaller JPEG or PNG copy in another app before opening it.
A Drive open, save, copy, or file-management request can fail because the connection dropped, the sign-in session expired, the wrong account is active, you lost permission, Drive storage is full, or Google returned a temporary error.
What you can do
Check your connection and try the action again.
Make sure Image Editor is using the Google account that has access to the file.
Reload the app and sign in again if the session may have expired.
Use Download on the app bar to keep a local result if saving to Drive is unavailable.
Google temporarily limits downloads when a file has been downloaded too many times in a short period. Image Editor can't override that limit.
What you can do
Wait and try again later, ask the owner to make another copy, or open a different copy of the image if one is available. The limit belongs to the Drive file, so changing browsers usually won't help.
The owner of a shared Drive file can prevent viewers and commenters from downloading or copying it. Image Editor respects that setting.
What you can do
Ask the owner for edit access, a downloadable copy, or permission to download. Signing in with another account helps only if that account already has the required access.
Google may block an image it has flagged as malware, spam, or abusive content. Image Editor doesn't bypass Google's warning or download policy.
What you can do
Open Google Drive directly and review Google's message. If you own the file and believe the flag is wrong, follow Google's available review or download steps. Don't open a file you don't trust.
Local file changed, moved, or became unavailableTop ↑
A recent-file entry can stop working if the image was renamed, moved, deleted, or changed by another app, or if the browser lost permission to read it.
What you can do
Select Open Image From Computer and choose the file again.
Approve the browser's permission prompt if one appears.
If another app changed the file, reopen it to load the latest version or save your current edit under a new name first.
Remove a broken recent entry; this doesn't delete the file itself.
A Google Drive image can be view-only when your account has viewer or commenter access but not edit access. You can still inspect and edit the image in the workspace, but Image Editor won't overwrite the shared source.
Keep your own version
Use Make a copy in the File menu to continue in a copy of your own in My Drive, which opens in a new tab, or Save as... on the toolbar or Download on the app bar. If the owner disabled downloads and copies, ask them for permission.
