Crop and Edit Images

Learn how to crop an image and edit its alternative text

Images are a great way to give learners a preview of your content, add visual interest, or present information like diagrams and graphs, but sometimes, they require editing to fit your content or be made accessible for all learners.

Visual Guide

1. Select the Edit button below the image you want to edit
   
2. Review the Alternative Text to make sure it is descriptive and accurate  
   1. Alternative text is a short description of the image that is used by screen readers and displayed when the image is not loaded
   2. Depending on how an image is added, the alternative text may be generated automatically or written by an outside source
      
      Ex. "Woman wearing a sweater and apron washes hands in stainless steel sink"
      
3. Select an Aspect Ratio to set the width-to-height ratio you want the image to have
   
   1. Original –  the original image you selected with nothing cropped out
   2. Wide (16:9) – landscape orientation, great for adding images to articles without taking up a lot of vertical space on mobile devices or 
   3. Square (1:1) – a perfect square, great for placing images to the left or right of the text in slideshows
   4. Freeform  – allows you to drag the edges of the bounding box to create a custom aspect ratio
      
4.  Move and scale the bounding box so that the part of the image you want to keep is highlighted
   1.  Click and drag the corners of the bounding box to make the highlighted area smaller or larger
   2. Use the grid to help you keep the focal point of the image towards the center
   3. Use the live Preview to see how the final crop will look
      
5.  Select the Reset Crop button to revert to the version of the image you started with
   1. This is not necessarily the same as the original image
6.  Select Save to apply your edits
7.  Select Refresh Preview to see how the cropped image will appear in the content