No Original? No Problem: How to Expand Images in Google Slides with Gemini

By | November 26, 2025
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No Original? No Problem: How to Expand Images in Google Slides with Gemini

 

Google has introduced a powerful new AI capability to Google Slides that solves a common presentation headache: having an image that is too small or cropped too tightly for your slide layout. As demonstrated in a recent tutorial by Google’s productivity advisor Laura Mae Martin, the new “Expand” feature uses Gemini’s generative AI to seamlessly extend the borders of an image, inventing plausible new content that matches the original photo’s style and context.

How It Works

 

The feature is integrated directly into the Slides editor, allowing users to “un-crop” photos without needing external tools like Photoshop. According to the video, the process takes just a few clicks:

  1. Select the Image: Click on any image currently on your slide.

  2. Open the Edit Menu: Click the pen icon (Edit image) that appears to the left of the selected image.

  3. Choose “Expand”: From the menu, select the Expand option. This opens the “Create an image” sidebar.

  4. Select Dimensions: Choose the target size or aspect ratio you want the final image to be.

  5. Generate: Gemini analyzes the image and generates new pixels to fill the empty space, blending them naturally with the original content.

Powered by “Nano Banana Pro”

 

This feature is part of the broader Nano Banana Pro (Gemini 3 Pro Image) update rolling out to Google Workspace. Unlike simple stretching or mirroring tools, this model uses “outpainting” technology to understand the context of the image—whether it’s a landscape, a texture, or an object—and hallucinates the missing details. For example, if you expand a photo of a beach, it will add more sand, ocean, and sky rather than just stretching the existing pixels.

Why It Matters for Productivity

 

For professionals like Chartered Accountants and consultants who frequently build decks, this tool significantly speeds up the design process. Instead of searching for a new “perfect fit” stock photo or leaving awkward white space on a slide, users can instantly adapt existing assets to fit wide 16:9 layouts or vertical mobile formats.

Availability

 

The “Expand” feature is currently rolling out to Google Workspace customers with Gemini add-ons (such as Gemini Business, Enterprise, Education, or Google AI Premium). It is available alongside other new features like “Help me visualize” and “Beautify this slide”.