Edit any picture in a design: remove the background, erase, expand, adjust
Updated 2026-09-04
Every picture in a design — uploaded, stock or generated — has four tools on its context toolbar. Remove background cuts the subject out so it sits on any colour. Erase brushes away a person, a price tag, a cable, and fills the gap from the surroundings. Expand extends the picture beyond its edges with AI, for when a landscape needs to be a portrait. Adjust is the non-destructive slider set: brightness, contrast, saturation, blur, greyscale and sepia.
Remove background and Adjust are free and instant; Erase and Expand use image credits because they run an image model.
How to do it
Select the picture
Click a picture on the canvas. The context toolbar above the canvas shows Remove background, Erase, Expand and Adjust.
Remove background
Click “Remove background”. A few seconds later the picture is a cut-out with a transparent background, ready to sit on a coloured panel or over a photo. Undo brings the original back.
Erase an object
Click “Erase”, paint over what should go (drag; the brush size is adjustable) and confirm. The area is filled from its surroundings. Small, well-bounded objects erase most cleanly; paint slightly past the edges.
Expand the edges
Click “Expand”, drag the handles to say how far to extend on each side, and confirm. The model continues the picture outward. Use it to reach the bleed on a print job or to turn a wide photo into a tall one.
Adjust
Click “Adjust” and move the sliders. Changes are live and non-destructive: they are saved as settings on the element, not baked into the pixels, so you can reset any time. Adjustments export with the design.
Tips
- Remove background then place the cut-out inside a frame from the Elements library for a quick product tile.
- For a print job, Expand is the honest way to get a photo into the bleed instead of stretching it.
- Greyscale plus a coloured panel behind a cut-out is a two-click editorial look.
- Blur the background photo a little and the headline on top becomes readable without a dark overlay.
Frequently asked questions
- Do the tools change my original file?
- No. Remove background, Erase and Expand create a new hosted image and the design points at it; Adjust is a setting on the element. Undo or version history gets the original back.
- Which tools cost credits?
- Erase and Expand run an image model and use image credits from your plan. Remove background and Adjust are free.
- Can I edit the page background picture too?
- Yes — click the background to select it and the same tools appear where they apply.
Try it on your own design
Free to start, nothing to install.