How to Blur Anything in Paint: Step-by-Step Guide

Other than drawing doodles or pasting and saving screenshots, do you know that you can blur in paint? Whether you want to blur text, part of a picture, or an entire face, you can blur anything you want using the built-in Paint application in Windows.

If you are wondering, blurring part of an image is very useful to obscure or hide sensitive information or something in the picture that you don’t want others to see.

For example, imagine you have a group photo you want to share online, but there’s one person who doesn’t want their face to be visible. In that case, you can blur the face in the picture with Paint. That way, you get the best of both worlds. i.e., you protect their privacy and share the photo online. The same is true when you want blur text in Paint.

Though the built-in MS Paint application is not a dedicated image editing software, it has basic options to resize, modify, annotate, and crop images. So, without further ado, let me show you how to blur something in Paint in simple and easy steps.

Table of contents:

1. How to blur anything in Paint
2. Use the brush tool to blur in Paint
3. Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
4. Conclusion

How to blur anything in Paint

We will use the pixelate trick to blur text, a part of the picture, or anything in Paint. All you have to do is use the rectangle selection tool and resize the part you want to blur. Let me show you how.

Here’s how to blur something in Paint:

1. Launch the Paint application on Windows.
2. Click the “File -> Open” option.
3. Find and select the picture you want to blur.
4. Click on the “Open” button to add the image to Paint.
5. Select the “Rectangle” section tool at the top.
6. Select the part of the picture or text you want to blur.
7. Hold the corner of the selection, drag it to make it as small as possible, and release the mouse button.
8. Hold the corner again and make the selection bigger until it matches the previous size.
9. The selection will be pixelated and blurred.
10. With that, you’ve blurred a part of the picture or text on Paint.

Steps with more details:

The first thing, open the Paint application. You can search for it in the “Start” menu or use the “mspaint” run command (Windows key + R) to open MS Paint on Windows.

Next, open the picture or image you want to blur in Paint. To open a photo or image in Paint, click the “File” and then the “Open” option, select the image in the browse window, and click the “Open” button.

After that, select the “Rectangle” selection tool.

Click, hold, and drag the mouse pointer over the part of the image you want to blur.

Next, place your mouse pointer on the bottom right corner of the selection. You should see the corner resize cursor.

Now, click and hold the corner, drag it diagonally from the bottom right corner to the top left corner, and make the selection as small as possible. After that, release the mouse button, but DO NOT CLICK ANYWHERE.

Place the mouse cursor at the bottom right corner again and resize the selection to make it bigger and match the previous size.

Once you resize, the selected part should be pixelated and blurred. If it is not blurred as much as you want, repeat the same steps a couple more times. The more you repeat, the more pixelated and blurry it becomes.

It is that simple to blur in Paint.

Use the brush tool to blur in Paint

You can use the brush and fill tools to blur anything in Paint. Here’s how to do it.

1. Open the Paint application on Windows.
2. Click the “File -> Open” option.
3. Select the picture you want to blur and click “Open.”
4. Click the “Brush” icon under the “Brushes” section.
5. Select the “Rectangle” shape from the “Shapes” section.
6. Select “No outline” from the “Outline” dropdown.
7. Choose “Crayon” or “Watercolor brush” from the “Fill” dropdown.
8. Choose “Color 2” from the “Colors” section and select the color of your choice.
9. Click and drag over the part you want to blur in Paint.
10. With that, the selected part is blurred in Paint.

Steps with more details:

Press the “Start” key on your keyboard, search for “Paint” in the Start menu, and click on the top result to open the Paint application.

After opening Paint, open the picture or image you want to blur using the “File -> Open” option.

After adding the image to Paint, click the “Brush” option in the “Brushes” section.

Next, select the “Rectangle” shape from the “Shapes” section.

Choose “No outline” from the “Outline” dropdown. If you don’t select this option, you will see a border around the blurred area.

Choose “Crayon” or “Watercolor brush” from the “Fill” dropdown.

Now, select “Color 2” and choose the color of your choice. This color will be used by Paint for the blurring effect. To make the result look more natural, it’s recommended to choose a color that closely matches the color of the part you are blurring. For instance, if you are blurring a face, choose a color that resembles the skin tone.

Finally, click and drag over the part you want to blur. Paint will instantly overlay the brush strokes to blur the image.

That’s it. It is that simple to blur text or a part of a picture in paint.

Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

Here are a few frequently asked questions about using Paint to blur images:

Blurring images in Paint – Conclusion

As you can see, while Paint doesn’t have a dedicated blur tool, you can still achieve the blur effect by using the brush tool or resizing the selected area. Although the process is not straightforward, it is still simple, and you don’t have to install yet another software.

If you are looking for a simpler process, try free and open-source software like ShareX (Snipping and Screenshot tool). It has a dedicated blur tool that helps you blur anything you want to with just a couple of clicks.

All in all, if you only ever do that occasionally, using Paint to blur images will get the job done.

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That is all. It is that simple to blue in Paint.

I hope this simple and easy Windows how-to guide helped you.

If you are stuck or need help, send an email, and I will try to help as much as possible.