GIF Maker for Teachers

Make a GIF on a Chromebook

A short GIF shows a click-by-click process better than a paragraph, and it plays on its own in a slide. Here's the quickest way from your screen to a GIF:

1. Record your screenPress Ctrl + Shift + Show windows (or open Quick Settings and pick Screen capture), choose Screen record, then record a window or just part of the screen. Stop with the red button in the shelf. The video lands in your Downloads folder.
2. Open it hereDrag the recording from the Files app onto this page, or tap Choose a video or photos. Chromebook recordings are usually WebM videos, and they open as they are.
3. Trim and cropDrag the yellow handles to keep only the steps you need. Then use Crop to cut away the parts of the screen you aren't showing, so the text stays big.
4. Export and downloadTap Export GIF, then Download. The GIF goes to your Downloads folder, ready for Slides, Docs or Classroom.

Keep text readable on a projector. Free GIFs are up to 480 px wide, so a whole Chromebook screen shrinks a lot. Record only the window or area you're explaining, or crop to it, and small menus stay legible from the back of the room.

Turn screenshots into a step-by-step GIF

Sometimes still pictures work better than a recording: each step stays on screen long enough to read. DropGIF makes each screenshot a frame:

1. Take a screenshot of each stepPress Ctrl + Show windows for the whole screen, or Ctrl + Shift + Show windows and choose Screenshot to capture part of it.
2. Add them all at onceIn the Files app, hold Ctrl and click each screenshot, then drag them onto this page together. Or tap Choose a video or photos and select them all in the picker.
3. Put them in orderThe Frames strip shows every screenshot. Drag one to move it, or use its arrows.
4. Set the timingFrame time under Motion sets how long every step stays on screen. To hold one step longer, tap its time in the Frames strip and change just that one.

A caption from DropGIF appears on every frame, so it suits a title such as "Sharing a doc". For a different label on each step, add it to the screenshot before you drop it in (the Gallery app on a Chromebook can type and draw on a picture), or number the steps in your slide next to the GIF. More tips are on the GIF maker from photos page.

Put a GIF in Google Slides

1. Insert it as an imageIn Slides, choose Insert → Image → Upload from computer and pick the GIF, or drag the file onto the slide. Don't copy and paste it: a pasted GIF can turn into a still picture.
2. Add alt textRight-click the GIF and choose Alt text. Describe what it shows, such as "Animation: dragging a file into a shared folder", so screen reader users get the same steps.

GIFs play in the editor and when you present. Slides accepts images up to 50 MB, but a smaller file loads faster on school Wi-Fi and older Chromebooks, so we suggest under 5 MB. These are good starting points:

Over your target? Lower the width, trim a second or two, or see the GIF compressor for every way to shrink a GIF.

Share it in Google Classroom and Docs

• Classroom: attach the GIF file to an announcement, assignment or material (from Google Drive or your computer), rather than pasting it into the text. Students open it from the attachment.
• Google Docs: use Insert → Image → Upload from computer, as in Slides. The GIF animates in the document.
• Google Drive: upload the GIF once and link to it from anywhere. Drive shows a preview when students open it.

Privacy for students and schools

DropGIF makes the GIF inside the browser, on the Chromebook itself. Recordings, screenshots and finished GIFs are never uploaded, students don't need an account or an email address, and the GIF maker sets no cookies.

• Domains: the GIF maker needs only www.dropgif.com. cdn.jsdelivr.net is used for unusual video formats and for Cut out person, and storage.googleapis.com for the Cut out person model.
• No watermark, no sign-up: free GIFs go up to 480 px wide and 20 seconds, which covers most classroom how-tos.
• For your IT team: the privacy page has a short section for schools, with what runs on the device and which domains to allow.

Make GIFs everyone can follow

• Let it stop. Under Advanced, set Loop to Once or 3 times, so the GIF stops moving after it makes its point. Accessibility guidelines ask that moving content longer than 5 seconds can be paused, or stops by itself.
• No flashing. Avoid anything that flashes more than three times a second, which can trigger seizures.
• Write alt text in Slides and Docs, and say the key step in a sentence on the slide too.
• Big, clear captions. If you add text, keep it short and use the Outline style, which stays readable on any background.
• One idea per GIF. Three short GIFs are easier to follow than one long one, and each stays smaller.

Frequently asked questions