In Keynote, click the picture, open the Image tab in the Format sidebar and click Remove Background. In PowerPoint, select the picture, choose Picture Format > Remove Background, mark any areas to keep or remove, then click Keep Changes. Both work on the picture inside your slide, one picture at a time.
Steps from Apple Support (Edit an image in Keynote on Mac) and Microsoft Support (Remove the background of a picture in Office, macOS tab). Checked on 22 October 2026.
Parts of the subject disappear, or bits of background stay. In Keynote, Shift-drag to bring areas back and drag over leftover colour to remove it. In PowerPoint, use Mark Areas to Keep and Mark Areas to Remove until the magenta covers only the background.
Remove Background is greyed out in PowerPoint. Microsoft says it doesn't work on vector files, such as SVG, AI, WMF and DRW. Use a PNG or JPEG version of the picture instead.
A logo on a plain colour. Keynote's colour drag is often the quickest fix. For a whole brand kit, see removing the background from a logo.
Your old version of Keynote doesn't have Remove Background. Older versions called the colour tool Instant Alpha, in the same Image tab.
Both tools work inside the presentation, on one picture at a time. If you're building a product deck, a catalogue or a lookbook from a folder of photos, that's a lot of clicking.
Sweepcut removes the backgrounds from a whole folder on your Mac in one go and exports transparent PNGs with your original filenames. Choose Original size to keep each one cropped to its subject, then drag them straight into Keynote or PowerPoint. Nothing is uploaded.
Sweepcut processes every photo 100% on your Mac, inside the macOS sandbox. Your photos are never uploaded, camera data and GPS location are removed from every export, and there's no account to create. Once activated, it works with Wi-Fi turned off.
Apple's current guide calls the tool Remove Background. It's in the Image tab of the Format sidebar, and it removes the background automatically before you refine it by dragging over colours. Older versions of Keynote called it Instant Alpha.
Yes. Select the picture, then choose Picture Format > Remove Background. Mark areas to keep or remove if needed, then select Keep Changes.
Microsoft says background removal isn't possible for vector files such as SVG, AI, WMF and DRW, so the option is greyed out for them. It can also be missing if the picture isn't selected.
Apple's and Microsoft's instructions cover one picture at a time. To do a whole folder, cut the photos out first in a batch tool such as Sweepcut, then add the transparent PNGs to your slides.
Sweepcut needs macOS 14 Sonoma or later. It's built for Apple Silicon and runs more slowly on Intel Macs.
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