Google Drive has over 800 million users and that number is only going up. That makes you think that Google would make it simple to save images from their products, but that sadly isn’t the case. Here’s the easiest and best workaround that we’ve found.
Savings Photos in Google Docs on Desktop
Step One: Left click the image.
Left click the image so that you get the blue border around the outside.
Step Two: Right click the image and select “Save to Keep.”
After right clicking, select Save to Keep with the lightbulb icon about halfway down the dropdown menu.
Step Three: Right click the image in the sidebar and select “Save image as…”
In the now visible sidebar, right click the image and select Save image as… and simply save the image in your desired file destination.
Savings Photos in Google Docs on Mobile
Here’s a quick GIF of how to save images from your phone’s Google Docs app. It requires the official app and the Notes app.
Step One: Open the Google Doc in the mobile app.
Select the document in the official Google Doc app. Unfortunately, it won’t work in the non-app preview.
Step Two: Tap the image and Copy it.
Copy the image by holding down your finger on it and selecting Copy.
Step Three: Open a new note in your Notes app. Paste the photo.
Create a new note in the Notes app and navigate to it without copying anything else. Paste the image in this new note.
Step Four: Select the image.
Tap on the image in the Notes app.
Step Five: Press the icon in the bottom left of the screen and then select Save Image.
Press the icon in the bottom left of the screen that looks like a box and an arrow. Then, select a similar icon on the next tab to save the image to your phone.
Video not supported.
If you’ve ever tried to download or save an image from a Google Doc, you know it can be frustrating—you can’t just right-click and save. Luckily, there are a few workarounds. Here are three easy ways to download images from any Google Doc.
Method one: Publish the Doc to the web
- In Docs, click on File > Publish to the web > Publish > OK.
- On the next screen, you’ll get the public link to the Doc. Copy that, and open a new tab.
- Paste in the link and go to the document. Right-click the image you want and choose “Open Image in New Tab” to get to the isolated image file.
- Right-click it again, and choose “Save Image As” to download the full-sized image to your computer.
Method two: Save it as an HTML file (good for multiple images)
- In Docs, go to File > Download as > Web Page (.html, zipped).
- Download the file, extract it on your desktop, and then navigate into the images folder, where you can find all of the images that were contained in the file.
Method three: Use this nifty add-on
- In Docs, go to Add-ons > Get add-ons > search for Image Extractor. Install the add-on, and allow it access your Google account.
- Again in your Doc, head back up to Add-ons > Image Extractor > Start.
- Choose the image you want to download, name it in the text box appearing on the right side of your screen, and click Download image.
And just like that, your image will immediately start downloading.
Bonus tip
Our friends at Hacking Revenue figured out an additional way to download images from Google Docs. Check it out here!
Click here to watch this video on YouTube.