A Beginner’s Guide: Google Slides

Google Slides Interface

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A Beginner's Guide: Google Slides

Create a new Google Slides Presentation and Getting Started

Creating a new Google Slides deck is very similar to using Google Docs if you’ve used it before. First, you’ll have to sign into your Google account. (You will have to open a new account if you do not have one.) In order to access Google Slides, go into Google Drive and click New +. You should see Google Slides as an option beneath docs and sheets.

When you click on Google Slides, it should open up a new window and take you to a new google slides presentation. You can also access Google Slides by going on to Google and querying via search with the term Google Slides.

Google Slides Interface: Naming your blank presentation

Let’s get started on the first lesson of the beginner’s guide to Google slides! Start a new presentation file in no time! Again all these practices can be used for other services like Google Docs or Sheets. The first best practice is to name your Google Slides Presentation. In the top left of. your blank presentation, click on the text box that says “Untitled Presentation”. Enter the name of your Google Slides Presentation and press enter. As a recommendation, it may be helpful to put the date before the name or a number sequence if you are working with multiple Google Slides presentations. A standard naming convention is helpful especially if you are doing a training module, HR documentation, educational materials or multiple pitch decks. One of the most important lessons in designing many documents and decks is to keep organized and having a good naming system – it will go a long way. You can also consider naming your presentation after its version history to keep track. There are more ways to name your presentation but these are our starter tips.

Google Slides Interface: Saving your Presentation

You’ll see “Save to Drive” appear next to the name text box. A nice feature of using Google docs, slides and other services in G Suite is this auto-save feature. The document saves itself as you work, which makes sure you will never lose work! You can also click this cloud icon as a save button, so you have the option to save manually too. When you click this save button, make sure there is a checkmark on your cloud before you back out of Google Slides.

Google Slides Interface: Saving your Presentation

Google Slides Interface: Saving to a Folder and Creating New Folders

The next thing to check is where you will save this presentation file. By clicking on the folder icon, you can choose where to save your Google Slides in Google Drive. Select the folder you wish to save your presentation in.
You can also make a new folder by clicking on the Folder icon with a + on it at the button of this drop-down menu. If you make a new folder, name this new folder and click the blue checkmark next to it to create the folder.
Once you create the folder, remember to click the blue “Move Here” in order to move the presentation to the correct folder.

Google Slides Interface: Locating your Slides presentation in Google Drive

All these folders are inside Google Drive. If you’d like to locate your folders with your google slides, navigate to Google Drive. Within Drive, you can either search for the folders in the search bar or they should appear right in the list of your storage. The search bar is the easiest and probably the way you want to use it to go to file quickly.

Google Slides Interface: Renaming your Google Slides presentation

You can rename the folders here by right-clicking on the folder and finding the “Rename” item and clicking on it.

Google Slides Interface: Starring a Presentation so you can find your file easily

A useful quick shortcut tool is you can also use the star icon to star your Google Slides presentations to make it easier to find in Google Drive. If you go to Google Drive and go under Starred, you will find your presentations there easily.

Starring a Presentation so you can find your file easily
Viola! You created your Google Slides presentation and are steps away from learning how to use Google Slides like a pro. Before you is a blank presentation where you will have to learn how to add text and images and develop design techniques like formatting text, finding image resources and use of all the format options Google Slides has to offer. For the rest of the beginner’s guide to Google Slides, we will show you how to use Google Slides and how to design within Google’s free and easy to use presentation software. You’ll be designing top-notch presentations in no time, and you can download each into a PowerPoint file (which we’ll cover later).

Google Slides Interface: Using or Changing a Theme / Templates

Let’s get started on a quick introduction of how to use the Google Slides interface before you start designing. On the right normally is your themes view, where you can apply a master theme to each slide by clicking on the design. This is pretty much a library of templates that are easy and free to use.
If you do not see this activity, you will have to navigate to the menu bar above and go to Slide > Change Theme, which will be at the very bottom of the menu drop-down list. You’ll see various options for templates you can use.
A theme is a quick and easy way to apply a design to your presentation. (If you’ve used Powerpoint, it is similar to creating Master Slides). You can create a professional and cohesive look by using 1-3 themes that look similar. Scroll through the list and pick a theme. Click on it and you’ll see your first slide has the design now. You can always change the theme by clicking on the slide you’d wish to change, then clicking on another theme in the Theme panel. You can also close the Theme panel by clicking the x in the corner. This is useful to note because sometimes having the Theme panel option hides certain formatting options as you edit your slides, so keep a note of hitting the x button here to close Themes if you are not using it. Let’s start filling out your slide!

Google Slides Interface: Add Text

Want to add text? Hover your mouse over “Click to Add Title”. Click and type in the title of your presentation. The same goes with the subtitle – click into the box and you can change the subtitle to whatever you’d like it to be.
Google Slides Interface: Add Text

Google Slides Interface: Formatting Text

In order to format the text, highlight the text and take a look at the menu bar right above the editor beneath the navigation bar:

Changing the Font

One drop-down you will most likely use the most is changing the font. You’ll see the name of the font as its button. When you click on that, a drop-down of fonts will appear for your selection.
Select the font you would like to use. After you click on the font, it should update the text you selected.

Changing the style and colour of your text, and other formatting options

You’ll have to close your Themes’ gallery by clicking on the x on the right of your screen, or simply expand the window and you’ll see more text options. In the formatting bar, you can change the text size with the numerical button listed or make it Bold with the B or italic with the I, or underlined with U. You can also adjust the font colour with the A button and highlight text with the highlighter icon. You can hyperlink selected text with the chain link icon. You can leave a comment with the + in the chatbox icon. You can change alignment or line-height using the icons with the stacked lines or the lines with the vertical arrow. More options are available in the hamburger icon at the end of the formatting bar.

The formatting functions are similar to using Word.

Changing the Text Box’s background

You can also create a background for your selected text box by using the paint bucket tool to the left.

How to move your text box around the interface

You can also move the text boxes by hovering your mouse over the blue outline and grabbing any one of the four lines of the box. Hold the click down and drag where you want to move your text box.

You can also adjust the sides using the square points on the four corners and in the midpoint between the four corners. Google Slides also has smart guides to show you when things are centred or aligned relative to each other. If you see a red line appear between elements or in the centre, you know your text is aligned.

Google Slides Interface: Creating New Slides

Now that you have your title slide, you probably want more slides, like say a table of contents, a couple of content slides, and a thank you. In order to make a new slide, look to the left of the screen. Using the plus symbol, you can make a new slide by clicking on it. Depending on what theme you chose, the new slide will auto-design itself.

You can also create a new slide with a different layout by using the down arrow button next to the plus sign and choosing New Slide with Layout. You’ll see a drop-down with different types of slide designs and a blank option.
Click on a slide on the left pane. Right-click on the slide. You’ll see various options when you slide right click – you can cut or copy or paste slides. You’ll see different format options above near the navigation bar. Click on the background and you’ll get a dialogue box that will allow you to manipulate the background. You can either change the background to a colour or image in this dialogue box.

Google Slides Interface: Insert Images

In order to insert an image or add a new image, go to Insert on the navigation bar above. The image should be the first option and you have the option to insert it from your computer or online or from your Google account. Use the upload dialogue box to add a new image. You can also search on the web by using search to add a new image. If you’d like to resize the image, you can grab the corners and it will scale as you size up or down. You can also move the image around by clicking on the image and dragging it with your mouse. Viola! It was easy to add a new image or picture to your presentation.
The format image option is also very useful if you’d like precision and other advanced options for resizing or formatting the picture you used. You can also replace the picture you chose in this dialogue.
As seen in the image above, you can also insert videos, charts and other items such as audio. For the purpose of this beginner’s guide, we’ll say just try each item in this list the way you’d try inserting an image. Video probably will be the other insert function you’d like to get to know as many presentations incorporate video. See what works for you! This is meant to be a quick introduction, but there are many features to Google Slides that cannot be covered in this beginner’s introduction. Try doing a video if you have the option to insert it – you can insert a Youtube video or a video located on your computer.

Present Your Slideshow!

Once you are done designing, there are several ways to present your slideshow. The simplest way is to click Present on the top right. This will make your presentation go full-screen and you can present via your computer or screen share. In this mode, you’ll see the presenting navigation bar at the bottom left. You can navigate each slide by using the drop-down or the left/right arrows on the navbar or on your keyboard. To exit fullscreen, press ESC on your keyboard, use the exit on the navigation bar or if you see a windowed version of the presentation, hit the top window bar’s x button.

Present Your Slideshow
There are other advantage options, but those are the basics! If you’d like speaker notes, they’re just at the bottom of the slide editor in the text box right beneath the editing view. In order to view speaker notes instead of fullscreen, click the down arrow on the PRESENT button on the right corner of the navigation bar above and choose Presenter View. You can also share your slideshow by hitting the SHARE button that’s next to PRESENT. You can invite another person to edit or view your slideshow. This is a pretty neat function as it allows easy and up-to-date collaboration with other members of your team, like Google’s other resources like Google Docs.

Google Slides Offline Slideshow or Convert to PowerPoint Presentation or PDF

A great part of this service is you can convert your slideshow to various other mediums, like to Powerpoint, PDF and images if you need to present offline. Navigate to the navigation bar, File > Download. You’ll see various options seen below:

You’re set!

That’s all for the beginner’s guide on using google slides. There are plenty more functions and add ons to explore in Google Slides, but congratulations on finishing your first presentation in Google Slides! We hoped you enjoyed using this guide to google slides. We love offering skills, lessons and resources, and please share this beginner’s guide to google to anyone you know who’s in a quick pinch who wants to become adept at using Google slides!
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