Sometimes you might want to adjust your slide objects so that one is on top of another. For example, you might want to send an image to the back in Google Slides so that you can place something like a circle on top of it. Fortunately it’s possible to change the layer order in your presentation.
The drag and drop nature of organizing elements on a slide in Google Slides can create a situation where a slide object is being hidden by another object.
Often this can be resolved by simply moving those objects so that they aren’t overlapping, but you may have something, such as a text box, that you would like to appear on top of something else.
Fortunately Google Slides lets you manage the order of your slide objects as layers, which allows you to choose which elements appear on top of other elements.
Our tutorial below will show you how to change the layer level for an object in Google Slides so that you can specify which object is on top.
How to Change the Layer Order in Google Slides
- Open your slideshow.
- Click the object to move.
- Click Arrange.
- Select Order, then the desired option.
Our article continues below with additional information on changing the layer order in Google Slides, including pictures of these steps.
How to Bring a Google Slides Layer to the Front
The steps in this article were performed in the desktop version of Google Chrome. This guide is going to show you how to adjust the levels of slide objects that overlap. The specific example we use in this article is a text box that you want to put on top of a picture, but the picture is currently hiding some of the text.
Step 1: Sign into Google Drive and open the presentation containing the slide objects that you want to reorder.
Step 2: Select the slide object whose layer you want to adjust.

Step 3: Choose the Arrange tab at the top of the window.

Step 4: Select the Order option, then click the action that you want to take.
If the object is currently hidden by another layer, then choose the Bring to front option. If you want to put the layer behind another object, then choose the Send to back option.

If your slide contains multiple objects that need to overlap, then you can use the “Bring forward” or Send backward option to adjust its positioning by one layer.
Selecting the “Bring to front” option or the “Send to back” option will make the object either the top layer or the bottom layer, respectively.
Does a picture in your slideshow need some edits? Find out how to crop a picture in Google Slides if it contains elements that you don’t wish to use in your slide.
See also
- How to add an arrow in Google Slides
- How to add bullet points in Google Slides
- How to convert Google Slides to a PDF
- How to delete a text box in Google Slides
- How to print multiple slides on one page in Google Slides
Matthew Burleigh has been writing tech tutorials since 2008. His writing has appeared on dozens of different websites and been read over 50 million times.
After receiving his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Computer Science he spent several years working in IT management for small businesses. However, he now works full time writing content online and creating websites.
His main writing topics include iPhones, Microsoft Office, Google Apps, Android, and Photoshop, but he has also written about many other tech topics as well.
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