How To Layer Images in PowerPoint

Despite mainly being presentation-making software, PowerPoint offers surprisingly a lot in the image editing front. To make your slides look more appealing, you can add effects, borders, change shapes and sizes, along with many other features. Experimenting with layers is one of them.

You can position one image on top of another, group them and move them around together, and even make certain layers invisible. Tinkering with the layers can help you present your ideas in an effective way. If you want to know how to layer images, read on to find out.

Add Some Images

Before you start layering your images, you should first add them to the document. To add images in PowerPoint, all you have to do is the following:

1. Open a new presentation in PowerPoint. If you want to remove the title and subtitle boxes, click the ‘Layout’ button in the ‘Slides’ section at the top of the page. Then select ‘Blank.’
   
2. Select the ‘Insert’ tab.
   
3. Choose ‘Pictures.’
   
4. Locate the image that you want to add.
   
5. Press the ‘Insert’ button.
   
6. You can add as many images as you want.
   

Now that the images are on the slide, you can start layering them.

Layer Images with Arrange Section

To locate all the layering options in PowerPoint, you should select the ‘Format’ tab from the top menu and locate the ‘Arrange’ section.

The simple way to layer your images is to click on each image that you want to arrange and then select one of the options from the ‘Arrange’ section.

The ‘Bring Forward’ option will move an image just one place further. However, if you click on a little arrow next to it and select ‘Bring to Front,’ it will move the image to the top layer.

On the other hand, the ‘Send Backward’ option will place the image one place behind its current position. But if you open the dropdown menu and choose ‘Send to Back,’ it will move to the bottom of the layer.

This method is useful if all your images are visible and you can manually select them and choose their position. However, there are times when the images are too small, so when you move them far back, you may not be able to select them anymore. That’s when it’s best to use the ‘Selection Pane.’

Using the Selection Pane

The ‘Selection Pane’ is a separate option in the ‘Arrange’ section that resembles layering tools of traditional image editing programs such as Adobe Photoshop. To use this feature, you should locate it in the ‘Arrange’ section under the ‘Format’ tab. Make sure that you’ve added all the images that you want to layer.

When you click on the panel, it will appear on the right side of the screen. You should see all the images that you’ve added listed the way they are positioned on the slide. The top layer will be the first image on the list, while the bottom layer will be the last one.

You can click on any image from the list and drag it to arrange its position. You can also click on the arrows on the top-right of the panel and move them forward or backward.

If you click on the eye icon next to the image, it will make it invisible. Click on the same place – it should now be a horizontal line rather than an eye – to make the image reappear. This way, you can reach less visible images that are positioned near the bottom. Also, you can click on ‘Hide All’ or ‘Show All’ to make all the images disappear or appear at once.

Other Arranging Options

Besides positioning the layers, there are three other useful options in the ‘Arrange’ section:

1. The ‘Align’ tool can align your image with certain parts of the slide. You can move it to the top, right, left, bottom, or center of the slide.
2. If you want to merge different images into one, you should use the ‘Group’ tool. Use the Ctrl key and click on all the images that you want to group before selecting this option. This way. all the images will merge into one layer.
3. The ‘Rotate’ option allows you to turn the image 90 degrees or flip it horizontally or vertically.

Layering is Easy

PowerPoint has decent layering capabilities, despite not being as polished as some well-known image editing programs. If you are just looking to fix the position of images for a big presentation, these built-in tools can come in handy.

If you insert word art, shape, or a regular text, it will also appear in the arranging options and the ‘Selection Pane.’ As such, you can combine images and other shapes while you’re experimenting with layers and end up with some fascinating results.

Do you know of some other PowerPoint image-editing trick our readers may find useful? Share it with the TechJunkie community in the comments below.