How-To Geek

The beginner's guide to google slides.

Want to learn the basics about Google Slides? This beginner's guide walks you through everything from importing your PowerPoint files to sharing presentations online.

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What is google slides, how to sign up for an account, how to create a blank presentation, how to import a microsoft powerpoint presentation, how to check your spelling in google slides, how to collaborate on presentations, how to see all recent changes to a presentation, how to link to a specific slide, how to insert special characters into a slide, how to use google slides offline.

If you’re just getting started with Google Slides, its extensive features and add-ons can be a little overwhelming. Here are some tips to help you get going with this powerful alternative to Microsoft PowerPoint.

If you’ve heard of Google Slides before, feel free to skip ahead; if you haven't, here’s a crash course on what you need to know. We’ll go over the basics and get you brushed up on what Google Slides is and how you can get started right away.

Slides is a free, web-based presentation program designed to compete with Microsoft Office PowerPoint. It's part of G Suite---Google's complete office suite (though some people refer to it all as Google Docs). The other main services included in the cloud-based suite are Sheets (Excel) and Docs (Word).

Related: What is Google Workspace, Anyway?

Google Slides is available on all devices and platforms; all you need is an internet connection and a web browser (or, in the case of mobile, the Android and iOS apps ). Google does the rest and handles the brunt of the heavy lifting, while it runs the software in the cloud.

Slides supports several file types, including  .ppt, .pptx , .odp, .jpg, .svg, and .pdf. This makes it easy to view or convert Microsoft Office files directly from Google Drive or insert images directly into a slide.

Related: What Is a PPTX File (and How Do I Open One)?

And since Slides is an online presentation program, you can share and collaborate with multiple people on the same file, and track revisions, changes, and suggestions, all in real-time.

Have you heard enough? Let’s get started.

Before you can use Google Slides, you have to sign up for a Google account (an @gmail account). If you already have one, feel free to move on to the next section. If not, we’ll go over the simplest way to create a Google account and get you set up with Slides.

Head over to  accounts.google.com , click "Create Account," and then click "For Myself."

Click "Create Account," and then click "For Myself."

On the next page, you provide some information---first and last name, username, and password---to create your account.

The Create your Google Account page.

Also, you have to verify your phone number, so Google can make sure you’re not a bot.

The "Verifying your phone number" screen on Google.

After you verify your phone number, the subsequent pages require you to provide a recovery email address and your date of birth and gender. You must also agree to the privacy statement and terms of service. After that, you’re the proud new owner of a Google account.

Now that you have a Google account, it’s time to create your first presentation. Head over to  Google Slides  and place the cursor on the multicolored "+" icon in the bottom-right corner.

Place your cursor on the multicolored plus sign (+).

The + turns into a black pencil icon; click it.

Click the black pencil icon.

Pro Tip: Type 

 into the address bar from any browser and hit Enter to automatically create and open a new blank document.

Drag and drop your PowerPoint file directly into Google Drive.

Even if you’re new to Google Slides, you might already have a collection of Microsoft PowerPoint files you’d like to be able to use. If that’s the case, then you have to  upload all your presentations  before you can view them. While it might not support some of the more advanced features and effects of some PowerPoint presentations, it works pretty well.

When you import a PowerPoint presentation, you can use either Google Slides or  Drive  to upload your files. Both methods let you drag and drop a file from your computer directly into the web browser for easy uploads. Your Drive houses all of your uploaded files, but---for the sake of convenience---when you go to the Slides homepage, it only shows you presentation-type files.

Google Slides homepage.

From the Slides homepage, click the folder icon in the top right, and then click the "Upload" tab. Now, drag and drop any files you want to upload directly into this window.

Click the folder icon in the top corner, click the Upload tab, and then drag a file from your computer into the window.

Once the file uploads, Slides opens it automatically, and it's ready for you to edit, share, or collaborate.

To open a PowerPoint presentation that you want to edit, click the filename with the "P" next to it from your Google Slides homepage.

Click the filename with the "P" next to it.

Click to either view the PowerPoint file or edit it in Slides.

Click "View Only" or "Edit in Google Slides."

After you’ve finished editing your file, you can download and export your presentation back into a Microsoft PowerPoint format. Just go to File > Download As, and then click the "Microsoft PowerPoint" option.

Click "File," "Download As," and then click "Microsoft PowerPoint."

If you’d rather download your presentation as a PDF, ODP, JPEG, TXT, etc., you can do that here, as well.

The download format options window in Google Slides.

Related: How to Import a PowerPoint Presentation into Google Slides

Now that you have a few presentations, it’s time to make sure your  spelling and grammar are correct . Slides is equipped with a spellchecker. If you misspell something, it underlines the error with a squiggly line and prompts you to make a change.

This should be on by default, but you can make sure in Tools > Spelling > Underline Errors.

Click "Tools," select "Spelling," and then click "Underline Errors."

To see spelling corrections and suggestions, right-click the word with the line underneath. Alternatively, press Ctrl+Alt+X (Windows) or Command+Alt+X (Mac) to open the Spell Check and Grammar tool.

Right-click the error to view the spellchecker's correction.

Along with a spellchecker, Google Slides comes loaded with a built-in dictionary and thesaurus. To use them, highlight a word, right-click it, and then click "Define [word]."

Click "Define [word]."

While this should get you started, we have  a deeper dive into Google’s spelling and grammar checker  if you want more info.

Related: How to Check Your Spelling in Google Docs

The "Share with Others" options in Google Slides.

One of the best features of Google Slides is its ability to  generate a shareable link.  Anyone you share the link with can view, suggest edits to, or directly edit the presentation. This eliminates the hassle of sending a file back and forth between collaborators. Each person has her own text entry cursor to use on her computer.

To do this, click the orange "Share" button in the file you want to share. Next, choose how and with whom you want to send a link to the file. You can type email addresses or click "Get Shareable Link" in the top corner to hand out the invitation yourself.

Type email addresses or click "Get Shareable Link."

From the drop-down menu, you can select one of these options for what other users can do:

  • Off:  Sharing is disabled. If you’ve previously shared a link with others, it will no longer work and revokes any permissions they once had.
  • Anyone with the link can edit:  Gives the shared users full read/write access. They still can’t delete it from your Drive, though---this is just for the contents of the file.
  • Anyone with the link can comment:  Allows shared users to leave comments which is handy for team projects.
  • Anyone with the link can view : Shared users can view the file, but can’t edit it in any way. This is the default action when you share a file, and it's the best option if you’re trying to share a file for download.

You can do a lot more with these shareable links, as they also work with other Drive files and on mobile. For a deeper look at how links work and how to generate them,  check out our post .

Related: How to Create Shareable Download Links for Files on Google Drive

The Version history of a presentation in Google Slides.

When you share documents with others, it’s difficult to keep track of all the small changes that happen if you’re not present. For that, there’s  revision history . Google keeps track of all the changes that occur in a document and groups them into periods to reduce clutter. You can even revert a file to any of the previous versions listed in the history with a click of your mouse.

You can view a list of all recent changes by clicking File > Version History > See Version History. Alternatively, you can press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+H (Command+Option+Shift+H on Mac).

Click "File," select "Version History," and then click "See Version History."

Related: How to See Recent Changes to Your Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides File

You can also share a link to a specific slide in your presentation with a friend or coworker, without having to mention which one you're referencing. When someone clicks the link and the presentation loads, it jumps directly to the slide you're referencing. You do have to enable file sharing before you can link to a specific slide in your presentation, though.

Because each slide has a unique URL, all you have to do to link to one is click it in the left pane, and then copy the URL from the address bar.

Click the slide, and then copy the URL from the address bar.

Google Slides also has a character insertion tool. This allows you to insert special characters into your presentation without having to remember any Alt-codes. There are tons of symbols, characters, languages, and so much more. So, whether you want an arrow, different language scripts, or if you just want a few silly emojis to spruce up your presentation, Google Slides makes it easy to include them.

To open the character insertion tool, click "Insert," and then click "Special Characters."

Click "Insert," and then click "Special Characters."

From here, you can manually search for specific characters with the drop-down menus.

The "Insert Special Characters" drop-down menu in Google Slides.

Use the search bar to find a specific character or emoji.

The "Insert Special Characters" search bar with "smiling" typed in and the resulting emojis.

You can also use your drawing skills to search.

The "Draw " search feature with a sad face drawn in and the resulting emojis.

Related: How to Insert Symbols into Google Docs and Slides

What happens if you need to access Google Slides but don’t have an internet connection? Although Slides is a web-based product, that  doesn’t mean you can’t use it offline . Any changes you make to the file offline will update the next time you connect to the internet. First, download the extension for Chrome.

To enable a presentation for offline use, go to the Google Slides’ homepage and, in the top-left corner, click the Hamburger menu > Settings. Once here, toggle "Offline" to the On position, and then click "OK."

Click the toggle next to "Offline" to the On position, and then click "OK."

To save storage space on your local machine, Google only downloads and makes the most recently accessed files available offline. To manually enable a file, click the three dots icon, and then toggle "Available Offline" to On.

Click the three dots icon, and then toggle-on "Available Offline."

Related: How to Use Google Docs Offline

Google Slides is a powerful, feature-rich alternative to Microsoft Office's PowerPoint. It's also completely free to use with an internet connection and a Google Account, making it a legitimate competitor for Microsoft.

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Google Slides  - Getting Started with Your Presentation

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Google Slides: Getting Started with Your Presentation

Lesson 8: getting started with your presentation.

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Getting started with your presentation

Google Slides allows you to create dynamic slide presentations. These presentations can include animation, narration, images, videos, and much more. In this lesson, you'll learn about the Google Slides interface and the basics of setting up your document, including the menu and shortcut toolbars , zoom settings , and choosing a theme .

Watch the video below to learn more about using Google Slides.

The Google Slides interface

When you create a new presentation in Google Slides, the interface for Slides will appear. This interface displays the toolbar , along with the main view of your presentation. It allows you to create and modify slides , choose a theme , and share the presentation with others.

Click the buttons in the interactive below to learn about the interface for Google Slides.

viewing the google slides interface interactive

Presentation Title

Google Drive displays the title of your presentation here and in the View pane of your Google Drive homepage. By default, new presentations are named Untitled presentation . Click the title to change the name.

Google Slides Home Screen

This icon indicates that you are in the Google Slides interface. Click the icon to navigate back to your Google Slides home screen.

Menu Toolbar

Various menus for working with your presentation can be found on the menu toolbar . Click a menu to see available commands and options .

Collaboration Options

Click Share to share your spreadsheet, as well as to allow others to edit it and collaborate on it. Click Comments to add comments or change notification settings.

Shortcut Toolbar

This toolbar provides convenient shortcut buttons for formatting your presentation.

Slide Navigation Pane

The Slide Navigation pane allows you to view and organize the slides in your presentation.

Here, you can view and edit the selected slide.

Click here to add notes to your current slide. Often called speaker notes , they can help you deliver or prepare for your presentation.

Click this button to play your presentation.

Choosing a theme

When you first create a new presentation, Google Slides will prompt you to choose a theme . Themes give you a quick and easy way to change the overall design of your presentation. Each theme has a unique combination of colors , fonts , and slide layouts . Select a theme from the panel on the right side of the window, and it will be applied to your entire presentation.

choosing a theme

You can choose from a variety of new themes at any time, giving your entire presentation a consistent, professional look. If you want to change your theme, you can open the Themes panel again by clicking the Theme command on the shortcut toolbar .

showing the theme command on the toolbar

Working with the Google Slides environment

Here, we'll show you how to navigate the Google Slides environment. You'll learn how to use the menu and shortcut toolbars , zoom in and out, and play your presentation .

The menu and shortcut toolbars

The Google Slides interface uses a traditional menu system with a s hortcut toolbar . The menus contain commands grouped by function. The shortcut toolbar has buttons for some frequently used commands.

showing the menus and the shortcut toolbar

Showing and hiding the menus

You can choose to minimize the menu bar to free up more space to display your slides. Click the Hide the menus command to hide the menu bar, leaving only the shortcut toolbar at the top of the window. Click it again to show the menu bar again.

showing how to hide the menus

Zooming in and out

You can zoom in and out of your presentation with the Zoom shortcut. Click Zoom on the shortcut toolbar, then move the mouse cursor over your slide. The cursor will change to a magnifying class with a plus sign inside of it. Now you can left-click to zoom in or right-click to zoom out. Press Escape on your keyboard to return your cursor to normal.

zooming using the cursor

Within the View drop-down menu, hover over Zoom and there you will see options to set the zoom more precisely.

showing the zoom drop-down menu within view

Playing the presentation

When you are ready to show your presentation—or if you want to see what it will look like during a presentation—click the Present button to the right of the menus. You can also click the drop-down arrow for additional presentation options.

viewing presentation options

  • Open Google Slides and create a blank presentation.
  • Change the presentation title from Untitled Presentation to Practice Presentation .
  • Choose a theme for your presentation.
  • Use the View menu to set the zoom to 50%.

showing the final result

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speaker-spotlight in slides

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Why it’s important , getting started .

  • Admins: There is no admin control for this feature. 
  • End users: To add the spotlight shape into Slides, go to Insert > speaker spotlight or click the speaker spotlight button in the toolbar. Visit the Help Center to learn more about using speaker spotlight .  

Rollout pace 

  • Rapid Release domains : Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on February 15, 2024 
  • Scheduled Release domains : Gradual rollout (up to 15 days for feature visibility) starting on March 6, 2024 

Availability 

  • Available to Google Workspace Business Standard, Business Plus, Enterprise Essentials, Enterprise Essentials Plus, Enterprise Standard, Enterprise Plus, and Education Plus 

Resources 

  • Google Help: Use speaker spotlight

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How to create a word cloud in Google Slides

How to create a word cloud in Google Slides | Quick Tips & Tutorial for your presentations

There are many ways to improve your Google Slides presentation . From choosing the right font to finding the right template, good presentations keep an audience engaged and convey a message in a clear way. Knowing how to visualize data in a slideshow  is one of those actions that have a huge impact on the success of a presentation. At the end of the day, plain data fails to motivate decisions as effectively as clear insights do.  This is when powerful visual tools like word clouds step in.  Let us tell you all about them. 

What is a word cloud?

Some benefits of using word clouds in your presentation, what types of words can you use to create your word cloud, how to make a word cloud in google slides, tips to consider when creating a word cloud.

Imagine you only have a few seconds to deliver the key concepts of a long text to an audience. Well, that’s how word clouds came to be.

Word clouds serve as a visually captivating method for displaying the most frequent words within a text. This means that the more a word is featured, the bigger it will be.

This image shows a word cloud

As we already mentioned, word clouds can communicate the essence of a large text with a quick glance. However, the right usage of this tool can have other advantages:

  • Simplify: word clouds can break down complex data into an easy-to-understand image.
  • Memorability: it’s a proven fact that a visually appealing presentation is more likely to be registered and remembered.
  • Authority: showing solid proof of the key points of a particular topic encourages an audience to take your arguments more seriously.

A great thing about this tool? You can tweak your word cloud to get your point across to your audience more effectively.

This image shows the three benefits of using a word cloud in your slideshow: simplicity, memorability, and authority.

After you’ve inputted your text into a word cloud generator and obtained the final graphic, you’re likely to notice a few words that aren’t very relevant.

When it comes to word cloud generators, it’s important to remember that  your automatically generated word cloud will always require some edits from the author.

Another thing to consider is  to   keep both your audience and your subject in mind when choosing the words for your cloud. For example, if you’re working on a business presentation, words such as “growth”, “market” and “product” are terms that you’d like to keep in.

Last up, consider the amount of words you’ll include in your word cloud.  A number between 15–25 words is a good balance between depth and simplicity.

This image gives you some tips about what types of words can you use to create your word cloud. First, your generated word cloud will always require some edits from the author. Also, keep both your audience and your topic in mind when selecting the words that will appear in your cloud. Lastly, a number between 15–25 words is a good call.

First things first: Google Slides lacks a built-in tool for creating word clouds. However, you can easily integrate a word cloud into your slideshow by using an online word cloud generator. Just follow these two simple steps!

 Step 1: Generate a word cloud with Word Art

There are plenty of online tools to build your own word cloud.  Word Art will be our primary focus due to its straightforward and flexible nature.

  • To get started, you need to go to  WordArt.com and click on the  Create button.
  • Enter the title of your word cloud in the top left section.
  • Click on the  Import button to copy and paste your source text. You can also import words from a text file or a website.
  • Make sure to keep the “remove common words”, “remove numbers” and “stemming” options selected so that only the most relevant words are considered.
  • Once you’ve entered your text, click on the  Import Words button, then the  Visualize button. This will generate your word cloud whose shape, font, layout, and style can be customized.
  • At this point, you can also delete any terms you consider irrelevant to keep your cloud as succinct as possible.
  • Finally, click the  Download button to get the file with your word cloud. We recommend downloading it as a Standard PNG so it can be easily included in your slideshow.

This image shows the necessary steps to make a word cloud in Google Slides with the help of Word Art

Step 2: Insert your word cloud into Google Slides

After successfully downloading your word cloud from the online tool, you’ll be able to add it to your slideshow like any other image.

  • First, place yourself in the slide you want to insert your word cloud in.
  • From the main menu, click  Insert, then hover over  Image . 
  • Select  Upload from Computer and look for your word cloud file.
  • Click  Open to include your word cloud and resize it to fit your slideshow.

And just like that, your Google Slides presentation will now feature an eye-catching word cloud.

This is an image showing the colors, shapes, and fonts that you can use for your word cloud.

Automatically-generated word clouds are amazing, but if you really want to make an impression, you should remember three essential things:

  • Relevancy : the terms you include in your word cloud should be spot-on for your topic.
  • Amount: The number of words you include in your word cloud counts, so avoid using too many.
  • Personalize : Customizing your word cloud’s color, font, and shape can amp up the impact of your message.

This image shows another word cloud

Translating data into easy-to-understand graphics has never been more critical.  A word cloud isn’t just simple to whip up, but it’s also effective for highlighting the main points of a large text source. With the customization features that online tools such as  Word Art offers, you can fine-tune your word cloud to impact your audience in an even bigger way. Don’t hesitate to include word clouds in your next Google Slides presentation, and let the data do all the talking!

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Celebrate Black History Month with this free PPT & Google Slides theme.

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Showcase historical figures and highlight key moments in Black history with this free PowerPoint Template and Google Slides Theme

February is Black History Month, a time to honor the achievements and contributions of Black individuals throughout history. This year, elevate your presentations with this stunning PowerPoint template and Google Slides theme designed to inspire and educate.

This template features a powerful combination colors. It’s perfect for showcasing historical figures and highlighting key moments in Black history.

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Dank intuitiver Vortragenden-Ansicht, Vortragsnotizen und automatischen Untertiteln können Sie in Google Präsentationen Ihre Ideen ganz mühelos überzeugend präsentieren – auch den Teilnehmenden einer Videokonferenz in Google Meet.

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Mit Google Präsentationen können Sie auch Microsoft PowerPoint-Präsentationen ohne Konvertieren ganz einfach online bearbeiten und darin die auf Zusammenarbeit ausgelegten und KI-gestützten Google-Funktionen nutzen, beispielsweise Kommentare, Aufgaben und „Intelligentes Schreiben“.

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Sie können Präsentationen auch ohne Internetverbindung öffnen, erstellen und bearbeiten. So sind Sie von überall aus produktiv.

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Alle in Google Drive hochgeladenen und in Google Präsentationen erstellten Dateien werden sowohl im Ruhezustand als auch bei der Übertragung verschlüsselt.

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A message from our CEO

The next chapter of our Gemini era

Feb 08, 2024

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For years, we’ve been investing deeply in AI as the single best way to improve Search and all of our products. We’re excited by the progress, for example with our Search Generative Experience, or SGE, which you can try in Search Labs . AI is also now central to two businesses that have grown rapidly in recent years: our Cloud and Workspace services and our popular subscription service Google One, which is just about to cross 100 million subscribers.

A new state of the art

In December, we took a significant step on our journey to make AI more helpful for everyone with the start of the Gemini era , setting a new state of the art across a wide range of text, image, audio, and video benchmarks. However, Gemini is evolving to be more than just the models. It supports an entire ecosystem — from the products that billions of people use every day, to the APIs and platforms helping developers and businesses innovate.

The largest model Ultra 1.0 is the first to outperform human experts on MMLU (massive multitask language understanding), which uses a combination of 57 subjects — including math, physics, history, law, medicine and ethics — to test knowledge and problem-solving abilities.

Today we’re taking our next step and bringing Ultra to our products and the world.

Introducing Gemini Advanced

Bard has been the best way for people to directly experience our most capable models. To reflect the advanced tech at its core, Bard will now simply be called Gemini. It’s available in 40 languages on the web, and is coming to a new Gemini app on Android and on the Google app on iOS .

The version with Ultra will be called Gemini Advanced , a new experience far more capable at reasoning, following instructions, coding, and creative collaboration. For example, it can be a personal tutor, tailored to your learning style. Or it can be a creative partner, helping you plan a content strategy or build a business plan. You can read more in this post .

You can start using Gemini Advanced by subscribing to the new Google One AI Premium plan , which offers the best of Google’s AI features in a single place. This premium plan builds off the popular Google One service offering expanded storage and exclusive product features.

Video explaining  two new experiences — Gemini Advanced and a mobile app — to help you easily collaborate with the best of Google AI.

Bringing Gemini’s capabilities to more products

Gemini models are also coming to products that people and businesses use every day, including Workspace and Google Cloud:

  • Workspace : Already, more than 1 million people are using features like Help me write to enhance their productivity and creativity through Duet AI. Duet AI will become Gemini for Workspace, and soon consumers with the Google One AI Premium plan can use Gemini in Gmail, Docs, Sheets, Slides and Meet.
  • Google Cloud : For Cloud customers, Duet AI will also become Gemini in the coming weeks. Gemini will help companies boost productivity, developers code faster, and organizations to protect themselves from cyber attacks, along with countless other benefits.

More to come

Developers have been fundamental to every major technology shift and will play an equally important role in the Gemini ecosystem. Hundreds of thousands of developers and businesses have already been building with Gemini models. While today is about Gemini Advanced and its new capabilities, next week we'll share more details on what's coming for developers and Cloud customers.

These latest updates reflect how we’re approaching innovation boldly, and advancing and deploying this technology responsibly. And we’re already well underway training the next iteration of our Gemini models — so stay tuned for more!

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IMAGES

  1. 30 Free Google Slides Templates For Your Next Presentation

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  2. 30 Free Google Slides Templates For Your Next Presentation

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  3. 30 Free Google Slides Templates For Your Next Presentation

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  4. 30 Free Google Slides Templates For Your Next Presentation

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  2. How to add a website to your Google slides presentation

  3. Google Slides vs PowerPoint

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