How to Download Images from Google Docs: 8 Ways to Save or Extract Them

This is the one I reach for. It unzips into a folder with every image as its own file, at the resolution Google stored, up to 2,000 pixels on the longest side.

1. Open the doc and go to File → Download → Web Page (.html, zipped).
2. Find the .zip in your Downloads folder.
3. Unzip it (right-click → Extract All on Windows, double-click on Mac).
4. Open the folder, then the images subfolder inside. Every image is there.

No real catch. It is the highest-quality, lowest-effort route for more than one image.

A .docx file is secretly a zip archive. Download as Word, change the extension, and open it up.

1. Go to File → Download → Microsoft Word (.docx).
2. Rename the file from document.docx to document.zip.
3. Unzip it and open the word/media folder. All the images are inside.

On Windows you may need to turn on Show file extensions in File Explorer first, or you cannot change .docx to .zip. Same full quality as the HTML method.

Google Keep is the closest thing to a real "save image" button inside Docs.

1. Right-click the image and choose Save to Keep (turn on the side panel via View → Show side panel if you need to).
2. In the Keep panel, right-click the image.
3. Choose Save image as… and pick where it goes.

Quality holds up well. The only limit is it does one image at a time.

The oldest trick, and it works everywhere.

1. Click the image to select it, then press Ctrl+C (or Cmd+C on Mac).
2. Open any editor: Paint, Preview, Photopea, GIMP.
3. Paste with Ctrl+V (or Cmd+V) and use File → Save As.

It is instant, but the clipboard can shave a little quality depending on your OS and the editor. Fine for a draft, not for a print file.

Publishing turns the doc into a normal web page where right-click → save works again.

1. File → Share → Publish to the web, then click Publish.
2. Open the published link in a new tab.
3. Right-click any image and choose Save image as….
4. Go back to File → Share → Publish to the web and click Stop publishing.

Do not skip step four. Until you stop, the document is publicly viewable, so never do this with anything private. On mobile the published images are heavily compressed, so keep this one for desktop.

If unzipping folders is not your thing, an add-on does it inside Docs and drops the images into Google Drive.

1. Extensions → Add-ons → Get add-ons.
2. Search for Images Extractor & Remover and install it.
3. Extensions → Images Extractor & Remover → Start, then extract to Drive.

The honest catch: the free tier of Images Extractor & Remover only handles the first four inline images, and bigger docs need the paid tier. Extract and Download is similar, paid after a trial. For a one-off, the free HTML method beats paying. For a daily workflow, an add-on or the script below is worth it.

If you pull images out of docs often, script it once. This saves every inline image to a new Drive folder.

1. Extensions → Apps Script.
2. Replace the code with the script below.
3. Click Run and authorise when asked.
4. Check Google Drive for the new folder.

function extractImages() {
  const doc = DocumentApp.getActiveDocument();
  const folder = DriveApp.createFolder('Images - ' + doc.getName());
  const body = doc.getBody();
  let found = body.findElement(DocumentApp.ElementType.INLINE_IMAGE);
  let i = 1;
  while (found) {
    const image = found.getElement().asInlineImage();
    folder.createFile(image.getBlob()).setName('image-' + i++);
    found = body.findElement(DocumentApp.ElementType.INLINE_IMAGE, found);
  }
}

It grabs inline images only. Floating images and native Google Drawings are not picked up, so use the HTML method for those.

Mobile is where quality goes to die if you pick the wrong route. Here is the good way on each.

Android (best): open the doc in the Docs app → three-dot menu → Share & export → Send a copy → Web page (.html, zipped), then open the images folder. Full quality, same as desktop.

Android (quick, lower quality): open the doc in Chrome, long-press the image, tap Download image. Easy, but it compressed my 1.7 MB photo down to about 43 KB.

iPhone (best): press and hold the image until it lifts, then with a second finger swipe up to the Home Screen and drop it into Photos.

iPhone (alternative): long-press the image, copy it, open Notes, paste, then long-press the pasted image and Save Image. This came out around 169 KB, softer than the original.

Avoid long-pressing on the published web version on a phone. That gave me the worst result of the lot, a 1.7 MB photo down to 27 KB with visible blocks.