How To Rotate Pictures In Windows 10 File Explorer

Have you taken pictures without holding the camera in the right orientation? Want to rotate one or more pictures on your Windows 10 PC? Here is how to easily rotate photos in Windows 10 File Explorer without opening picture files.

Most of us know how to rotate a picture file in the Windows operating system by opening the image file in a picture viewer and then clicking rotate options. But many of us are not aware that we can rotate a picture in Windows Explorer or File Explorer without opening the image file in any image viewing software.

If you have one or more picture files in one of the folders on your Windows 10 PC, you can rotate clockwise or anti-clockwise with ease. The good thing is that you can even use keyboard shortcuts to rotate picture files quickly.

Follow one of the methods given below to rotate pictures in Windows File Explorer easily.

Method 1 of 4

Rotate images in Windows 10 File Explorer

Step 1: Open up File Explorer (Windows Explorer) and navigate to the folder containing picture files.

Tip: We suggest you change the view type to Large icons or Extra large icons (click the View tab and then select one of these options) so that you can easily see the current orientation of pictures.

Step 2: Select an image that you want to rotate by clicking on it.

Note: You can rotate multiple pictures at once using this method. To do so, please select all the pictures that you want to rotate and then proceed to the next step.

Step 3: Click the Manage tab and then click Rotate left or Rotate right button to rotate the selected picture file. That’s it!

Method 2 of 4

Rotate images using keyboard shortcuts

And if you prefer to use keyboard shortcuts to rotate pictures, after selecting picture files that you want to rotate, press the Alt key, press JP, press RL to rotate left, and press RR to rotate right.

Method 3 of 4

Rotate images using the right-click context menu

Step 1: Select the picture file(s) you want to rotate.

Step 2: Right-click and then click Rotate right or Rotate left option.

Method 4 of 4

Rotate pictures using the Photos app

The built-in Photos app in Windows 10 allows you to rotate pictures. To rotate the picture file, open the picture file that you want to rotate with the Photos app, and then click the Rotate icon or press Ctrl + R hotkey.  The app rotates the picture by 90 degrees to the right at a time. So, depending on the picture’s current orientation, you might need to click on the button multiple times.

Our how-to start picture slideshow right from File Explorer in Windows 10 guide might also be of interest to you.