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Remove a Background

Replace the background of an image with transparency to show the page background or any other colors or objects the image is placed over.

3d Snagit icon

Replace background color with transparency to create logos, overlap two or more images, add watermarks, or save cursors to reuse in other images.

Snagit offers three easy ways to remove the background from an image:

Tip: Start with a transparent Canvas.

Select Image menu > Canvas Color (Windows) or Change Canvas Color (Mac). Click the canvas color preview, select the transparent (checkerboard) option, and click OK (Windows) or Apply (Mac).

Fill Tool

The Fill tool replaces one color with another color or with transparency. The Fill tool works best when the background you want to remove is a solid color.

Fill with transparency example

  1. Click the Fill tool in the Snagit Editor toolbar.
    Fill tool icon

    Note: If the tool is not visible in the toolbar, click the More dropdown.

  2. In the Properties panel, click the Fill dropdown and select Transparent (checkerboard pattern).
    Select transparent fill
  3. Click the background of the image to replace the color with transparency.

The Canvas appears under transparent areas.

Tip: Adjust the tolerance for a better result.

If the background is not a solid color, Snagit might fill too little or too much of an area with transparency. Press Ctrl+Z (Windows) or Command+Z (Mac) to undo the previous fill, drag the Tolerance slider to adjust the fill amount, and try again.

For more information, see the Fill Tool.

Invert Selection

The Snap to Object and Invert Selection options allow you to remove the color around irregular shapes.

Selection to remove background example

  1. Click the Selection tool in the Snagit Editor toolbar.
    Selection tool icon

    Note: If the tool is not visible in the toolbar, click the More dropdown.

  2. In the Tool Properties, select the Freehand shape.
    Freehand shape
  3. Select the Transparent background fill option.
    Transparent background fill
  4. Click and drag to draw a selection around a shape or icon you want to preserve in an image.
  5. Click Snap to Object to bind the selection to the edges of the selected element.
    Snap to Object
  6. Right-click (Windows) or Control+click (Mac) and select the Invert Selection option.
  7. Press Delete to replace the inverted selection with transparency.

The Canvas appears under transparent areas.

For more information, see the Selection Tool.

Magic Wand Tool

The Magic Wand tool makes a selection based on the color where you click. The Magic Wand works best to select and remove backgrounds that are a solid color or have only a slight color gradient.

Magic Wand to remove background example

  1. Click the Magic Wand tool in the Snagit Editor toolbar.
    Magic Wand tool

    Note: If the tool is not visible in the toolbar, click the More dropdown.

  2. In the Properties panel, select the Transparent background fill option.
    Transparent background fill
  3. In the image on the Canvas, click the color you want to remove.
  4. Adjust the Select slider in the Tool Properties to select more or less color adjacent to your image.
    Slider to select more or less
  5. To include all instances of the selected color(s) in the image, click to enable Global Color Selection in the Tool Properties.
    Global Color Selection
  6. Press Delete to remove the selection.

The Canvas appears under transparent areas.

For more information, see the Magic Wand Tool.

IMPORTANT
To maintain transparency, save the image to a file format that supports transparency: CUR, GIF, ICO, PNG, TIF, or SNAGX.

Note: This tutorial is for Snagit version 2024. Previous versions may look or function differently.

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