How do I flip an image in Photoshop?

To flip the whole picture, go to Image → Image Rotation and choose Flip Canvas Horizontal or Flip Canvas Vertical. To flip only the layer you have selected, use Edit → Transform → Flip Horizontal or Flip Vertical instead.

What is the shortcut to flip an image in Photoshop?

There isn't one out of the box — neither the Canvas flips nor the Transform flips ship with a key assigned. The fastest route is Ctrl/Cmd+T for Free Transform, then right-click inside the bounding box and pick Flip Horizontal. If you flip often, assign your own key under Edit → Keyboard Shortcuts.

Why is Flip Horizontal greyed out in Photoshop?

Usually because the layer is locked (the Background layer is locked by default — double-click it to convert it to a normal layer), because no layer is selected, or because you are on an adjustment layer, which has no pixels to flip. Image Rotation can also be unavailable while you are still inside an active transform — press Enter to commit it first.

Does flipping an image in Photoshop reduce quality?

No. A flip mirrors pixel positions along one axis with no resampling, so every pixel survives unchanged — unlike rotating by an arbitrary angle, which does interpolate. Any quality loss comes from re-saving as JPG afterwards, not from the flip itself.

How do I flip several images at once in Photoshop?

Record an Action that opens a file, applies Flip Canvas Horizontal and saves it, then run it over a folder with File → Automate → Batch. For a one-off job that is a lot of setup — a browser flipper handles up to 30 files in a single pass with no Action to record.

Can I flip text in Photoshop?

Yes, and unlike Canva it works directly: select the type layer and use Edit → Transform → Flip Horizontal. The layer stays editable, so you can still change the wording afterwards — it just displays mirrored while you type.

How do I flip an image in Photoshop on iPad?

Select the layer, tap the Transform tool in the toolbar, then use the flip buttons in the task bar at the bottom of the screen. There is no Image Rotation menu on iPad, so to mirror an entire multi-layer document you flip a merged copy or flip each layer in turn.

Guide · Updated at every deploy

How to Flip an Image in Photoshop

Photoshop has two separate flip commands sitting in two different menus, and picking the wrong one is why your background stayed put while the logo jumped sideways. Here is which is which — plus selections, smart objects, type, the iPad app, and how to flip a whole folder in one run.

Flip the whole image: Image Rotation

This is what most people mean by flipping an image — the entire document mirrors, every layer included, and the canvas dimensions stay the same.

Open the picture in Photoshop.
Go to Image → Image Rotation in the menu bar.
Choose Flip Canvas Horizontal to mirror left-to-right, or Flip Canvas Vertical to turn it upside down.

No layer needs to be selected first, and it works on a flat JPG just as well as on a 50-layer PSD. The command is destructive to the document but not to the file on disk — save with File → Save As or Export As and your original stays where it was.

The same menu holds 90°, 180° and Arbitrary rotation. Those are a different operation: rotating turns the picture around its centre without reversing it, so text stays readable. Only a flip produces a true mirror.

Flip one layer: Edit → Transform

When only part of the composition should turn — a cut-out subject facing the wrong way, a logo, a copied half of a face for a symmetry mock-up — use the Transform flips instead:

Click the layer in the Layers panel to select it.
Go to Edit → Transform → Flip Horizontal (or Flip Vertical).

Faster: press Ctrl/Cmd+T for Free Transform, right-click anywhere inside the bounding box, and both flips are in that context menu. Press Enter to commit.

Canvas or Transform — which one?

Flip Canvas mirrors the document; every layer moves and the result is what you would see in a mirror. Flip Transform mirrors the selected layer in place, inside its own bounding box, leaving everything else alone. If your flip “did nothing”, you probably transform-flipped a near-symmetrical layer. If it moved one element and left the background, that was Transform when you wanted Canvas.

To flip several layers as a unit, shift-click them in the Layers panel first — Free Transform then wraps all of them in one bounding box, and the flip reverses their positions relative to each other, not just each layer's own pixels. Linking the layers (the chain icon) achieves the same thing.

Flip a selection, a smart object or a type layer

A selected area

Draw a selection with any selection tool, then use Edit → Transform → Flip Horizontal. Only the pixels inside the marquee are mirrored, in place. Watch the edges: on a detailed background a hard-edged flip is obvious, so feather the selection a little (Shift+F6) before you commit.

A smart object

Smart objects flip exactly like normal layers, and the flip is non-destructive — it is stored as a transform on the container, so you can flip back later with no quality cost at all. If you expect to change your mind, right-click the layer, choose Convert to Smart Object, and flip that.

Text

Type layers flip too, and stay editable afterwards — a real advantage over Canva, which refuses to mirror text at all. Select the type layer and apply Edit → Transform → Flip Horizontal. This is the standard step for iron-on transfers and heat-press prints, where the design goes on face-down and only reads correctly if it was reversed first.

When Flip Horizontal is greyed out

The layer is locked. A freshly opened JPG has a single locked Background layer. Double-click it in the Layers panel to convert it to a normal layer, or just use Image Rotation, which ignores locks.
Nothing is selected. Transform commands need a target — click a layer thumbnail first.
You are on an adjustment or fill layer. There are no pixels to mirror, so the flip has nothing to act on. Flip the pixel layer underneath instead.
A transform is still open. While a Free Transform box is active, parts of the Image menu go inert. Press Enter to commit, or Esc to cancel, then try again.
The document is in a mode Photoshop restricts. Indexed Color files block some edits — Image → Mode → RGB Color first.

Flipping a whole folder with an Action

Photoshop can batch this, but it is a setup job rather than a click:

Open one sample file and open the Actions panel (Window → Actions).
Click New Action, name it “Flip horizontal”, and press Record.
Apply Image → Image Rotation → Flip Canvas Horizontal, then File → Save As into your output folder, then close the file.
Press Stop in the Actions panel.
Go to File → Automate → Batch, pick your Action, set Source to the input folder and Destination to the output folder, and run it.

Worth doing for a recurring pipeline of hundreds of files. Overkill for the twelve photos you need mirrored this afternoon — the flip image tool takes up to 30 pictures per pass, keeps each one in the format it arrived in, and lets individual files use a different axis from the rest, with no Action to record and nothing to install.

Photoshop on iPad and Photoshop Elements

iPad: select the layer, tap the Transform tool in the left toolbar, and use the flip buttons in the task bar along the bottom. There is no Image Rotation menu, so mirroring a whole multi-layer document means flipping a merged copy or each layer in turn.

Elements: the commands live in different places — Image → Rotate → Flip Horizontal for the whole picture, and Image → Rotate → Flip Layer Horizontal for the active layer. Same two-flavour split, different menu.

When Photoshop is the wrong tool for this

Photoshop earns its keep when the flip is one move inside real editing — compositing, retouching, layer work. It is a heavy way to mirror a file: launch the app, wait for it to load, open, flip, Export As, choose settings, save. That is a subscription and a couple of minutes to replace one drag and one click.

For a flipped copy of a JPG, PNG or WebP, the flip image tool does it in the browser — the mirroring runs locally through the Canvas API, so there is no upload, no file-size cap and no watermark, and the output keeps the original format, resolution and transparency. If you always want the same axis, the mirror image and flip image vertically pages have it pre-selected before you add a file. For the flip path in every other app — iPhone Photos, Canva, Google Docs, Windows Paint, Mac Preview — see the full guide to flipping an image.

No Photoshop? No problem

One picture or thirty, horizontal or vertical — one click, free, no account, and the file never leaves your browser. Flip your image now →