Have you been frustrated trying to crop out a picture in Paint?—Just crop, not cut pieces out of it and move them around and suddenly have holes and… oh my! Find out here how to crop images in Microsoft Paint.
First, I Smell My Fingers Often
I smell my fingers often every spring and summer.
It is the distinctive smell of fruity ripeness to come that so readily sticks when pruning tomatoes.
For after the first fruit clusters have developed, they compete for time in the sun, drops of water and crystals of minerals with all the clusters that come after them. Especially in the not so endless Austrian summers, it helps to give the first fruit exclusive right to all of those—and pluck out all leafy suckers that later appear on the tomato plants.
Now that we have pruned a plant, let’s cut in Paint:
How to Crop Images in Microsoft Paint
Using Paint 3D? How to crop in Paint 3D
Time needed: 7 minutes
To crop an image in Microsoft Paint (into a rectangle, say 2X2 or 4×6):
- Click Color 1 in the MS Paint toolbar.
Here’s why: We are selecting the foreground color to draw the outline of the image; drawing an outline makes it easier to crop because one cannot easily re-expand a cropped area in Paint.
- Under Colors, choose the color you want to use for the background.
Which color to pick: Typically, choose white, black, cyan or another color that contrasts with the edges of your cropped image and can easily be removed if needed.
- Click Rectangle under Shapes.
- Under Shape fill (or Fill), make sure No fill is selected
- Under Shape outline (or just Outline), choose Solid color.
- Optionally, pick a stroke size under Size.
Paint keyboard shortcut: You can increase and decrease stroke size quickly using Ctrl + and Ctrl -.
- Draw the outline of your crop on the image.
- Adjust the outline for cropping as desired.
Edit the crop: Yes, you can drag around and resize the rectangle.
Cropping dimensions: With the Paint status bar enabled, you can see the dimensions of your crop near the lower left corner (do subtract the stroke width for precision). - When you are satisfied, click somewhere outside the crop outline.
- Zoom in to your cropping area.
- Select Rectangular selection and Transparent selection from the Select drop-down menu.
- Draw the selection at the inner edge of your rectangular outline.
Tip: Start in the top left corner and drag to lower right.
- Now click Crop under Image in the toolbar.
Keyboard shortcut: You can also press Ctrl Shift X to crop.
- Save the newly cropped image or continue editing it.
How to Crop Images in Microsoft Paint: FAQ
Can I crop rounded edges in Paint?
Yes. To round the corners of your cropped image in Microsoft Paint:
- Follow the steps above, but
- choose Rounded rectangle instead of Rectangle when you draw the outline and
- fill in the edges with your background color if any remain
Here’s how: See How to crop a circle in Paint for the technique.
Can I crop a circle in Paint?
Yes, using a similar technique you can also crop in a circle shape using MS Paint.
(How to crop images in MS Paint tested with Microsoft Paint 11.2302; updated March 2024)