How to Reverse an Image in Microsoft Word

To reverse (mirror) a picture in Microsoft Word, select it, go to the Picture Format tab, select Rotate and choose Flip Horizontal. Choose Flip Vertical instead to turn it upside down. Mirroring text takes a different method, using 3-D rotation on a text box.

Your flyer logo faces the wrong way, or you need a mirror image for iron-on transfer paper. These steps cover Word for Microsoft 365 and Word 2016 through 2024 on Windows, plus Word for Microsoft 365, Word 2024 and Word 2021 on Mac.

Which Kind of Reverse Do You Need?

“Reverse” can mean a few different things, and Word handles each one with a different tool. Picking the right one first saves a lot of trial and error.

What you want	What it looks like	Tool to use
Mirror a picture	Left and right swap, like a reflection	Rotate > Flip Horizontal
Turn a picture upside down	Top and bottom swap	Rotate > Flip Vertical
Mirror text	Letters read backward	Text box with 3-D Rotation, X Rotation 180°
Turn something on its side	The object turns, but is not mirrored	Rotate Right 90°, Rotate Left 90° or a set angle
Invert colors	A photo negative	Not a flip; see the section on inverting colors below

Mirror a Picture With Flip Horizontal

This is the method Microsoft gives on its reverse or mirror an image or text page, and it works for photos, logos, clip art and screenshots.

1. Insert the picture if it isn’t already in the document (Insert > Pictures).
2. Click the picture once to select it. A border with sizing handles appears around it, and the Picture Format tab shows up on the ribbon.
3. Select the Picture Format tab.
4. Select Rotate. It sits in the Arrange group near the right end of the tab, and on a narrow window it may show only its icon.
5. Choose Flip Horizontal. The picture is mirrored immediately, so the side that faced left now faces right.

Any words that are part of the picture itself, such as text printed on a logo, are mirrored too, because Word treats the whole image as one graphic. That is exactly what you want for an iron-on transfer and exactly what you don’t want for a company logo in a brochure.

The same Rotate menu appears on the Shape Format tab when you select a shape, icon or text box. Microsoft’s rotate or flip page for Word notes one exception: Flip Horizontal is not available for WordArt.

Flip a Picture Upside Down

1. Select the picture.
2. Go to Picture Format > Rotate.
3. Choose Flip Vertical.

Flip Vertical is not the same as rotating 180 degrees, even though both put the top at the bottom. A vertical flip mirrors the image top to bottom, so text in the picture appears upside down and mirrored, like a reflection in water, and a person who was looking left is still looking left. Rotating 180 degrees spins the picture around, so the person now looks right and text is upside down but not mirrored. Doing both Flip Horizontal and Flip Vertical gives the same result as a 180-degree rotation.

Mirror Text for an Iron-On Transfer

Ordinary typed text in a paragraph can’t be flipped. To mirror words, put them in a text box (or a shape with text) and rotate the box in 3-D. Flipping the text box with Flip Horizontal is not enough. Microsoft notes that flipping a shape horizontally does not flip its text, so its instructions use 3-D rotation instead.

1. Go to Insert > Text Box and draw a box, then type your text. Set the font and size before mirroring, since editing backward text is awkward.
2. Click the edge of the box so the box itself is selected, not the text inside it.
3. Select the Shape Format tab (or Format in some versions).
4. Select Shape Effects > 3-D Rotation > 3-D Rotation Options. The Format Shape pane opens.
5. In the 3-D Rotation section, change X Rotation to 180°. The text now reads backward.
6. If the text doesn’t reverse, select the Layout & Properties button at the top of the Format Shape pane, open the Text Box section and clear the Do not rotate text box.

For WordArt, Microsoft’s Word page reaches the same setting through Text Effects > 3D Rotation > 3D Rotation Options, then X Rotation set to 180°. Menu names can vary slightly between Word versions, so look for the 3-D Rotation entry under whichever Effects button your tab shows. If you are styling the lettering as well, curving text in Word uses the same WordArt and text box tools, so apply the curve first and mirror last.

Example: A Team Shirt Transfer

Ingrid is making shirts for a fictional bowling team called the Pin Pals. Her design is a bowling pin picture with “PIN PALS” underneath. She selects the picture and uses Flip Horizontal, then puts “PIN PALS” in a text box, removes the box outline, sets X Rotation to 180° and places it under the picture. On screen, everything reads backward. When the transfer is ironed face-down onto the shirt, it reads correctly. Before using transfer paper, she prints one copy on plain paper and holds it up to a mirror to check the result.

Rotate Instead of Flip

If the picture is simply sideways or upside down, rotation is the right tool, because it turns the image without mirroring it. The Rotate menu includes:

• Rotate Right 90° and Rotate Left 90° for a quarter turn each time you click.
• More Rotation Options, which opens a box where you type an exact angle in the Rotation field, such as 180 or 15.

You can also drag the circular rotation handle above a selected picture. Hold Shift while you drag to rotate in 15-degree steps, which makes it easy to land on a straight angle. When several shapes are selected and rotated together, Microsoft says each one turns around its own center rather than as a group.

Print a Mirror Image on Transfer Paper

You have two ways to get a mirrored print, and you should use only one of them. Using both mirrors the design twice, so it ends up reading normally on the shirt, which is the wrong way round.

• Mirror in Word. Flip the pictures and mirror the text boxes as described above, then print normally. This gives you full control and works with any printer.
• Mirror in the printer settings. Some printers have a mirror image or iron-on transfer option in their print settings that reverses the whole page. Check your printer’s settings (in Word, File > Print > Printer Properties) to see whether yours has one.

Whichever you choose, always run a test on plain paper first. Transfer paper is expensive, and a backward print is the most common mistake.

Undo a Flip

• Press Ctrl+Z right after flipping to undo it (Command+Z on a Mac).
• Later on, apply the same flip again. Flip Horizontal on a mirrored picture returns it to the original direction, and the same goes for Flip Vertical.
• For mirrored text, reopen the 3-D Rotation options and set X Rotation back to 0°.

Flipping a picture in Word changes the copy inside your document. The original image file on your computer stays as it was, so you can always insert it again.

If Rotate or Flip Isn’t There

The Picture Format or Shape Format Tab Is Missing

These tabs only appear while an object is selected. Microsoft’s advice is to make sure you have actually selected the picture, text box, shape or WordArt. Click directly on the image (a double-click also works), and the tab should appear. If the picture sits inside a table cell or a group, click it until the sizing handles surround the picture itself.

The Picture Jumps After Flipping

Flipping doesn’t move a picture on purpose, but the layout around it can shift, especially if the picture is set to move with text. If the picture or surrounding paragraphs move unexpectedly, check its layout option and pick a wrap style that fits; wrapping text around a picture in Word explains each style and how to fix the position.

You Are Using Word for the Web

Microsoft’s page on browser and desktop differences says more sophisticated picture features, such as applying effects and cropping, aren’t available in Word for the web, and that text boxes and WordArt may appear as placeholders that can’t be edited, moved or resized. The 3-D rotation method for mirrored text depends on those effects. If you don’t see the flip or rotation options you need in the browser, open the document in the Word desktop app.

You Are on a Mac

Microsoft’s rotate and flip instructions apply to Word for Microsoft 365 on Mac as well as Windows, so the Picture Format > Rotate > Flip Horizontal path is the same. The ribbon layout may look a little different, so look for the Rotate button at the right end of the Picture Format tab.

Inverting Colors Is a Different Job

Some people say “reverse an image” when they mean a negative, where black becomes white and colors switch to their opposites. That isn’t a flip, and none of Microsoft’s flip and rotate instructions include a color-invert option. The practical route is to make the negative in a photo editor, save it as a new file and insert that copy into Word. Word’s own picture tools are better suited to adjustments like shadows; adding a drop shadow to a picture in Word covers one of those.

Flipping and Mirroring Questions

Why didn’t my text flip when I flipped the text box?

Flip Horizontal mirrors the box, not the letters inside it. Use 3-D Rotation with X Rotation at 180° instead, and clear Do not rotate text if the letters still read normally.

Can I mirror an entire page at once?

Word has no single command that mirrors a whole page of ordinary text. Either rebuild the page with pictures and text boxes and mirror each one, or use a printer that offers a mirror image print setting.

Does flipping reduce the picture quality?

A flip only changes the direction the picture is displayed in. Print quality depends on the image’s original resolution, so start with the largest, sharpest version of the picture you have, especially for transfers.

How do I mirror a shape I drew?

Select the shape and use Shape Format > Rotate > Flip Horizontal, the same as a picture. Text typed inside the shape won’t mirror with it; use the 3-D rotation steps for that. For more on building designs from shapes, see drawing in Word.

Once your design looks right on screen, print a plain-paper test before you load the transfer sheet.