google powerpoint presentation mode

How to Use Present and Edit Modes in Google Slides

Whether you’re new to Google Slides , or already have some tricks up your sleeves like adding fancy fonts and adding backgrounds , it’s important to understand presenter view and edit mode. Just like any digital tool, knowing the best way to use each of these will make your teacher life easier.

Present or Edit: That Is the Question

Edit mode in google slides.

So, what’s the difference between these two options in Google Slides? The answer is pretty simple. “Edit” mode allows you to create and make changes to the slides. This mode isn’t just for you as a teacher though. If you want students to complete any activity, move pieces, or type on a Google Slides presentation, they need to be in Edit mode. (With one exception, but I’ll get to that in a moment.)

Edit mode is the default mode when you create a new slideshow. It’s also the default when you are sharing a presentation with students. Typically, if you want your students to DO anything with the presentation, they will be working in Edit Mode.

Presentation Mode in Google Slides

Presentation mode is exactly what it sounds like. It’s where information is presented full screen. You can play videos and listen to audio through presentation mode, but students can’t complete any activities in present mode. (With one exception, but we’ll talk about that next.)

Presentation mode is great if you want to share information with your students. And, if you are sending them a presentation, you can share it with them so they can’t edit it. Here’s how.

• Copy the share link (in the top, right hand corner of your Google Slideshow.
• Paste it into the address bar.
• Close to the end of the URL, you’ll see the word “edit”. Remove the word edit and replace it with “present”.
• Copy the new URL, and share it with your students.

When students open the URL, it will automatically open in present mode. Be sure not to change any other part of the URL, or it won’t work. Also, I always recommend testing your URL before sending it out to students.

Presentation Mode Exception

I’ve said that you can’t edit activities in presentation mode, but there is one exception. In the Chrome Web Store, there’s a chrome extension (meaning, students will need to be using the Chrome Web Browser), called Fullscreen Interactive Google Slides (TM) . This extension allows students to edit Google Slides activities in present mode! The benefits of this extension is that it removes all of the things from the sides, which makes it less distracting for your students. However, if they’re doing just fine working in edit mode, it’s probably not necessary.

Feel free to join my FREE Facebook Club for k-2 teachers here!

Find me on  Instagram ,  Facebook ,  Twitter , and  Pinterest !

• Google Slides

Primary Paradise

You may also like.

How to Add Hyperlinks in Google Slides

3 Easy Steps to Quickly Digitize a Worksheet You Already Have

How to Add Multiple Backgrounds at Once to Google Slides

How to present in Google Slides with Present mode toolbar

• Written by: Emma Trantham
• Categories: Google Slides , Presentation skills

If there’s one thing that gets our goat at BrightCarbon its people “presenting” their slides without using present mode. The slides are much smaller, you lose any animations, and it looks unprofessional – wave goodbye to an interested and influenced audience. It takes time to create engaging, visual slides, so why undermine all your effort at the crunch point? Delivering a presentation properly really isn’t that tricky! With Google Slides’ Present mode toolbar, it’s super easy to present in Google Slides navigating your presentation effortlessly.

How to present in Google Slides: Previous, Slide Selector and Next

How to use Autoplay in Google Slides

How to use the Pointer in Google Slides

How to add captions to Google Slides

How to make Google Slides full screen

How to finish a presentation in google slides.

The Present mode toolbar is only accessible when you view a presentation in Present mode. To do this, click the white Present button in the top-right corner of your screen. Once your presentation has started, hover your mouse in the bottom-left corner of the screen to bring up the Present mode toolbar. If you move your cursor away from this section of the screen, the toolbar will disappear.

The three buttons on the Present mode toolbar are Previous, Slide Selector and Next. You can use the arrows to navigate through your presentation. You can also advance to the next slide by clicking anywhere on your screen. However, to move backwards you’ll need to use the toolbar or the left arrow key on your keyboard.

Between the Previous and Next arrows is a box displaying the current slide number. If you click the number, a list of all the slides in your presentation appears. You can use this to jump to any part of the deck as you present. This is handy if you need to skip past certain slides or if you’re running a conversational presentation and want to tailor your deck to a specific audience.

How to use Autoplay

In Google Slides it’s possible to set a deck to present itself automatically.

To find this option, follow these steps:

• Click the three dots on the Present mode toolbar to bring up the options menu.
• Select Autoplay .
• Choose how long you’d like your slides to play for.

A word of warning: you can’t set different times for each slide in your deck with this tool. This feature is ideal if you want slides to just run in the background – perhaps at an event or before a webinar. However, if you’re presenting to an audience and talking through content, we’d recommend advancing the slides manually, so your delivery is more natural, and you aren’t rushed or held back by the autoplay.

How to use the Pointer

One of the topics we highlight in our Presentation Skills training course is that interacting with your slides helps you deliver a truly effective visual presentation. Turning towards your slides and using your Audience Attention Device (AAD, or hand!) to point out specific elements is a great technique for ensuring that audience attention is focused precisely where you want it to be – that is, on following your visuals as they build, adding depth of meaning and emphasis to your presentation.

If you’re presenting your deck online or using a large screen that towers above you, your hands aren’t much help. However, the Present mode toolbar offers a convenient Pointer feature when you present in Google Slides. This acts like a laser pen that you can use to gesture towards certain parts of your slides, like a particular data point or important section of a graph.

Like with Autoplay, when you present in Google Slides click the three dots on the right of the toolbar to bring up the options. Then select Turn on laser pointer . Alternatively, you can tap the L button on your keyboard. Either of these options will transform your cursor into a red laser pointer that you can move across your screen using your mouse or touchpad.

How to add captions

If you have a microphone, you can enable the Captions function when you present in Google Slides. Captions make your presentation more accessible and help participants follow along if sound quality isn’t great. Read more about why captions are important.

To access captions in Google Slides, you need to re-open the options menu by clicking the three dots on the Present mode toolbar, then select Captions preferences . To turn captions on, click the Toggle captions button or simply press Ctrl + Shift + C whilst in present mode.

Changing screen size can be helpful if you’re switching between multiple tabs, displaying images or delivering more than one presentation. You don’t have to close your presentation completely. Instead, you can shrink your presentation and then easily click back onto it once you’ve finished showing your other tabs or images. Super slick!

You can change the size of your presentation to fill the whole screen, or you can keep it the size of your browser window. Just click the Exit/Enter full screen option in the options menu or click Ctrl + Shift + F to toggle between the settings.

Did you know that you can put Google Slides into full screen presentation mode by changing the URL? This means you don’t need to click the share button and work out which mode you’d like to present in. Instead, change “/edit#slide=id” at the end of your deck’s URL to “present?slide=id”, then hit Enter . Your slides will play automatically in full screen, and you can use your keyboard keys or mouse to navigate as normal. The only difference is that you won’t be able to exit this mode and return to your Slides deck or take a peek at your speaker notes.

Once you’ve made it to the end of the presentation, click the Stop Presenting button in the options menu or simply hit the Esc key on your keyboard.

And that’s a wrap! If you’ve found this blog post useful, check out some of our other blog posts written by our Google Slides gurus: How to share your Google Slides presentation or Editing the Google Slides Master and Layouts . And, if you’re ready for the big time, head over to our ULTIMATE guide to Google Slides .

Emma Trantham

Principal consultant, related articles, how to use presenter view in google slides.

• Google Slides / Presentation skills
• Comments: 5

For seasoned presenters and newbies alike, the move to online presenting comes with the joint complications of an online audience and unfamiliar tech. Talk about spinning plates! This blog post covers how to use Presenter view in Google Slides, so that you can be more professional and feel more confident.

How to share your Google Slides presentation

• Google Slides
• Comments: 4

Wondering how to share a Google Slides presentation? Good news! It’s a pretty simple process. As Google Slides exists completely online, sharing your presentation with others isn't limited to an email attachment. This post will show you how to share Google Slides presentations in five ways, there’s definitely something here for you!

Creating and delivering the perfect job interview presentation

• Presentation skills / Visual communication

You’ve applied to what feels like (and may literally be) 101 different companies and you’ve finally landed that all important interview. Great! The only problem is, they’ve asked you to give a presentation about why they should hire you… What makes a killer presentation? What will separate you from…

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Save my name and email in this browser for the next time I comment.

Join the BrightCarbon mailing list for monthly invites and resources

Thank you for today’s PowerPoint productivity masterclass. I’ve learned so much from BrightCarbon when it comes to PowerPoint. If there isn’t a BrightCarbon fan club already, I’ll be happy to start one! Kimm Babo Wegmans Food Markets

How-To Geek

How to autoplay and loop a google slides presentation.

Your changes have been saved

Email Is sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

7 Ways You Unknowingly Put Your Data at Risk

7 scenarios where you should avoid using your main credit card, google is about to break a lot of web links, quick links, set up autoplay and loop when presenting, set up autoplay and loop when publishing to the web.

If you don't want to worry about clicking through your slideshow, you can set up Google Slides to play your presentation automatically. Plus, you can have the slideshow loop, so it starts over at the beginning when it ends.

You might be playing your slideshow at a kiosk, during a conference, or publishing it to the web. These are the ideal times to use AutoPlay and Loop in Google Slides . You can automatically present the show and choose the timing between slides. Then, restart the presentation at the beginning each time it ends.

If you plan to start the slideshow and then let it play, you can set up AutoPlay and Loop , or simply one or the other.

Related: How to Loop a PowerPoint Presentation

Start the presentation by clicking "Slideshow" at the top of Google Slides. You can also use the arrow to pick either "Presenter View" or "Start From Beginning" per your preference.

When the slideshow opens, display the Presenter Toolbar by hovering your cursor over the bottom left corner of the presentation.

Click the three dots on the right of the Presenter Toolbar, then move to AutoPlay. You'll see a pop-out menu that lets you select the advance timing for the slides. You can pick from every second up to every minute.

If you also want to loop the slideshow, select "Loop" at the bottom of the pop-out menu.

When you finish, click "Play" to automatically play your presentation.

To stop the slideshow, simply click on a slide. You can then resume AutoPlay from the Presenter Toolbar by selecting "Play" again.

Maybe you plan to publish your slideshow to the web or embed it on a website rather than play it locally. You can set up AutoPlay and Loop as part of the publish settings.

Related: How to Share a Google Docs, Sheets, or Slides File as a Web Page

Go to File > Publish to the Web in the menu.

Choose either "Link" or "Embed" per your intent. Then use the Auto-Advance Slides drop-down box to choose the timing for the slides. Here again, you can pick from every second up to every minute.

To loop the slideshow, check the box for Restart the Slideshow After the Last Slide.

You can then mark the checkbox for Start Slideshow as Soon as the Player loads if you like, so that the viewer doesn't have to take any action to begin the presentation.

When you finish, click "Publish" and confirm to obtain the link or embed code for the slideshow.

To share a Google Slides presentation that doesn't require you to walk viewers through it, remember these steps to automatically play and loop the slideshow.

• Google Slides

• Generative AI
• Office Suites
• Collaboration Software
• Productivity Software
• Augmented Reality
• Emerging Technology
• Remote Work
• Artificial Intelligence
• Operating Systems
• IT Leadership
• IT Management
• IT Operations
• Cloud Computing
• Computers and Peripherals
• Data Center
• Enterprise Applications
• Vendors and Providers
• Enterprise Buyer’s Guides
• United States
• Netherlands
• United Kingdom
• New Zealand
• Newsletters
• Foundry Careers
• Terms of Service
• Privacy Policy
• Cookie Policy
• Copyright Notice
• Member Preferences
• About AdChoices
• E-commerce Affiliate Relationships
• Your California Privacy Rights

Our Network

• Network World

Google Slides cheat sheet: How to get started

How to use google slides to create, collaborate on, and lead business presentations..

Need to build a slide presentation for a meeting, training, or other event? Google Slides is an easy-to-use web app that comes with the essential tools and more. It stores your presentations in the cloud with Google Drive. Anyone with a Google account can use Slides and Drive for free, and they’re also included with a Google Workspace (formerly G Suite) subscription for business and enterprise customers. There are Google Sheets mobile apps for Android and iOS, too.

This guide will help you become familiar with the Google Slides web interface and show you how to start a new presentation, upload a Microsoft PowerPoint file to edit in Google Slides, collaborate with others on your presentation, and finally, present it to others.

Create or open a presentation

Log in to your Google or Workspace account. Then:

From Google Slides : At the top of the home page, you’ll see a “Start a new presentation” header, with a row of thumbnails underneath. To start a new, blank presentation, click the Blank thumbnail. To start a new presentation in a template, select one of the thumbnails to the right or click Template gallery toward the upper-right corner, then click any thumbnail on the page that appears.

The Google Slides home page. (Click image to enlarge it.)

Below the “Start a new presentation” area you’ll see a list of presentations that are stored in your Google Drive or shared with you. To open a presentation, click it in this list.

The list of your presentations appears in reverse chronological order starting with the presentation you most recently opened. Clicking the “AZ” icon at the upper right of this list changes the sort order to Last modified by me , Last modified , or in alphabetical order by presentation title. You can also browse to a specific folder by clicking the folder icon next to the “AZ” icon.

From Google Drive : Presentations stored in your Google Drive are listed in the main window of the Drive home page. To see a listing of presentations that others are sharing with you, click Shared with me in the left column. From either list, double-click a presentation to open it in Google Slides.

To start a new, blank presentation, click the New button at the upper-left of the screen and then click Google Slides .

If you want to use a template to start a new presentation, click the New button, then move the cursor over the right arrow next to Google Slides and select From a template . The template gallery for Google Slides will open; click a thumbnail to start a new presentation in that template.

Creating a new presentation from Google Drive.

From Google Slides or Drive: You also can use the search box at the top to find presentations in your Google Drive or shared with you. Enter words or numbers that may be in the presentation you’re looking for.

Upload a PowerPoint presentation to Slides

You can edit a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation in Google Slides, but first you must upload it to Google Drive.

From Google Slides: Click the folder icon ( Open file picker ) that’s above and toward the right corner of your presentations list. On the panel that opens, click the Upload tab. Drag-and-drop your PowerPoint file (.ppt or .pptx) onto this panel, or browse your PC’s drive to select it.

From Google Drive: Click the New button, then File upload , and select the PowerPoint file from your PC’s drive and click Open .

Traditionally, when you uploaded PowerPoint files to Google Drive, they were automatically converted to Slides format. That’s still the case when you upload PowerPoint files via the Google Slides home page .

However, Google now supports the ability to edit Microsoft Office files in their native format. By default, any .pptx files that you upload via Google Drive will remain formatted as PowerPoint documents. You can edit and collaborate on a PowerPoint file right in Slides, with all changes made by you or your collaborators saved directly to the PowerPoint file.

On the Google Slides and Drive home pages, native PowerPoint files will be denoted with an orange “P” icon, and when you open a native PowerPoint file in Sheets, you’ll see a “.PPTX” flag to the right of the document title.

Native PowerPoint files show the PowerPoint icon (top) instead of the Google Slides icon (bottom).

If you’d rather have Google convert PowerPoint files to Slides format automatically when you upload them via Google Drive, click the gear icon in the upper-right corner of the Drive home screen and select Settings from the drop-down menu. In the Settings box next to “Convert uploads,” check the checkbox marked Convert uploaded files to Google Docs editor format .

Work in a presentation

When you open a new or existing presentation, its first slide appears in the main window of Google Slides. Here’s a breakdown of the toolbars, menus, panes, and sidebars that appear around your presentation.

The left pane shows thumbnails of all the slides in your presentation. Click a thumbnail, and the slide it represents will appear in the main window, where you can edit it.

The Google Slides editing interface. (Click image to enlarge it.)

Your presentation’s title appears along the top of the screen. To change it, click anywhere inside the title and start typing.

The menu bar below your presentation’s title has a complete set of tools for working with presentations. These are the main submenus to know:

• File has commands for taking action on the whole presentation, including Print, Rename, and Share.
• Edit lists the standard editing commands such as copy, cut, paste, delete, duplicate, and find and replace.
• View lists several ways that you can view your slides as you design and edit them. This includes arranging them into a grid, previewing them as a slideshow, or zooming in on them. You can also watch the transition effect that takes place between slides when they’re played in a slideshow.
• Insert lets you add several objects to your slides, including charts, diagrams, pictures, tables, and text. You can also add links to YouTube videos or sound or video files that are stored in your Google Drive.
• Format lets you change the look of your slides. Certain functions on this submenu become clickable depending on whether you’ve selected an image or text on a slide, or selected the slide itself.
• Slide is where you can add, delete, or duplicate a slide that you’ve selected. You can also add a preset layout to a slide, change its background or theme color, or add and edit a transition effect that takes place between slides when your presentation is played as a slideshow.
• Arrange lists tools that let you group or reorder objects on a slide in relation to another. For example, you can place an image behind another image or group an image and a block of text together to make them easier to move at once.
• Tools leads to several miscellaneous functions. These include letting you record a voice clip to go with a slide, running a spell checker, and showing you a list of objects in your presentation that are linked to other files.

The toolbar directly above your presentation puts commonly used commands in easy reach. From this toolbar, you can click buttons to add to a slide or change its background, comments, layout, objects (images, lines, shapes, text), text style, theme colors for the whole presentation, transition effects during a slideshow, and more. The buttons on the toolbar change depending on whether you’ve selected image or text on a slide or the slide itself.

Notice that there’s no Save button in the toolbar — or anywhere in Google Slides. That’s because Slides automatically saves any changes you make to your presentation.

Speaker notes: Along the bottom of each slide you’ll see an area marked Click to add speaker notes . Here you can type in brief notes to remind yourself what to do or say when the slide is being shown. Only you will see these notes when you show your presentation to an audience.

Themes sidebar: When you start a new blank presentation, the Themes sidebar opens on the right side of the screen. (You can also open this sidebar at any time by clicking Theme on the toolbar above your presentation.) Themes apply the same fonts, colors, and other design elements to all the slides in a presentation, giving it a consistent look and feel. Click a thumbnail in this sidebar to change your presentation to that theme.

Create and manage slides

Here are the basic things to know about working with slides in a presentation.

Add a new, blank slide to your presentation: Click the + button at the left end of the toolbar above your presentation. Alternatively, if you click the down arrow next to the +, you can choose a layout to use as the basis for a new slide.

Click the down arrow next to the + button in the toolbar to choose a layout for a new slide.

Apply or change a slide’s background: Select the slide’s thumbnail in the left sidebar and click Background on the toolbar above your presentation. On the panel that opens, you can change the slide’s background color or use an image file from your Google Drive, Google Photos account, or PC as the background.

Apply or change a slide’s layout: Select the slide’s thumbnail in the left pane, then click Layout on the toolbar above your presentation. On the panel that opens, select the layout you want to apply to this slide.

Apply or change a slide’s transition: Select the slide’s thumbnail in the left sidebar and click Transition on the toolbar above your presentation. In the Motion sidebar that opens along the right side of the screen, you can apply or change the animated transition effect that is played before this slide.

Choosing a transition style in the Motion pane.

Move a slide to a different spot in the slideshow sequence: Click and hold its thumbnail in the left sidebar, drag it up or down to another place in the sequence, and release it.

Delete a slide: Right-click its thumbnail in the left sidebar and select Delete from the pop-up menu. Alternatively, select its thumbnail and select Edit > Delete from the menu bar or just press the Delete key.

Share and collaborate on a presentation

Presentations are often a group effort, with several team members contributing to and polishing a presentation. In Slides, it’s easy for multiple collaborators to work on a presentation together.

First, you need to share the presentation. When you’re viewing your presentation in Google Slides, click the Share button at the upper-right. Or, from your Google Drive homepage, click to highlight the presentation that you want to share. Then, in the toolbar toward the upper right, click the Share icon (a head-and-shoulders silhouette with a +).

Either way, the “Share” panel will open.

Setting permissions for a file being shared privately.

Share a presentation privately

In the entry box, enter the email addresses (or names of your Google Contacts) of the people with whom you want to share. By default, the people you invite to your presentation can edit it and reshare it with others.

To change access permissions for invitees: Click Editor to the right of the entry box and choose another option from the drop-down menu. Commenter means they can view your spreadsheet and add comments but can’t change it. Viewer means they can view your presentation but can’t edit it or add comments.

To prevent your presentation from being reshared, downloaded, or printed: Click the gear icon at the upper-right of this panel. On the smaller panel that opens, uncheck the boxes by Editors can change permissions and share and Viewers and commenters can see the option to download, print, and copy .

When you’re done setting permissions (and, optionally, typing in a message to your invitees), click Send , and everyone you’ve added will receive an email with a link they can click to access the document.

The shared presentation icon.

A presentation you’ve shared (or that others have shared with you) will have an icon of two silhouetted heads next to it in the presentations list on your Google Sheets and Google Drive home pages.

To limit or change a person’s access to your presentation: With the presentation open in Google Slides, click the Share button at the upper-right. Or, from Google Drive, highlight the presentation and click the Share icon.

The Share panel reopens showing a list of all the people you’ve invited, along with their permission status. Click the down arrow to the right of a person’s name, change their permission level or remove their access entirely, and click Save .

You can change permissions for people you’ve shared a presentation with on an individual basis.

If you have a Google Workspace subscription, another option is to select Give temporary access and, next to Access expires , select a date within one year of the current date. If you set an expiration date for a person that you’ve assigned as Editor, their access will be downgraded to Commenter on the expiration date.

Share a presentation publicly

Most business users will want to share presentations privately with select colleagues or clients, but you do have the option to share a presentation publicly. At the bottom of the Share panel is a “General access” area where you can copy a link to the document. By default, this link is restricted to those you invite to the document. To change it to a public link, click Restricted and select Anyone with the link from the menu that appears.

Click Copy link and the link to your presentation will be copied to your PC’s clipboard. You can share this link by pasting it into a chat message, document, email, forum post, or most other means of online written communication. Anyone who clicks this link will be able to view your presentation online. (Be aware that anyone can copy and reshare this link.)

To allow anyone in the public to comment on or edit your presentation: At the bottom right of the Share panel, click Viewer and select Commenter or Editor from the drop-down menu. Then click the Done button. Now the web link to your presentation will let anyone who clicks it add a comment or edit it.

Sharing a spreadsheet publicly.

To turn off public sharing for your presentation: Bring up the Share panel again. Near the bottom, click Anyone with the link and select Restricted from the menu, then click the Done button.

Note: You can apply both public and private sharing methods to your presentation. For example, you could allow the public to only view your presentation, but allow specific people that you’ve invited to comment on or edit it.

Collaborate on a presentation

The people you’ve shared a spreadsheet with can view or work on it at the same time as you or at other times. Remember that people who have Editor privileges to your presentation can change all aspects of it. Having multiple people making changes to a presentation can get confusing. In most cases, setting everyone to Commenter is the best way to collaborate in Slides: People can attach comments to a slide or to objects in a slide, but their comments won’t alter your presentation’s information or design.

To add a comment to a slide: Right-click its thumbnail in the left sidebar and select Comment from the menu that opens. Alternatively, you can select its thumbnail and select Insert > Comment from the menu bar or click the Add comment button (a speech balloon with a + sign).

A blank comment card with your name on it opens to the right of the slide in the main window. On this card’s entry line, type a brief comment, and when you’re finished, click the Comment button.

Typing in a new comment.

To add a comment to an object on a slide: Right-click the object (a block of text, chart, image, picture, etc.) and select Comment from the menu that opens. Alternatively, you can select the object and select Insert > Comment from the menu bar.

To draw someone’s attention to a comment: As you’re composing the comment, type the @ symbol and begin typing their name, then select the person from the list of suggested Google contacts that appears. They’ll receive an email notifying them of the comment and linking to it.

To read, reply to, or remove a comment: A slide that contains a comment is denoted in the left sidebar with a speech balloon by its thumbnail. Click the slide’s thumbnail to make the slide appear in the main window, and you’ll see all its comment cards on the right.

To reply to a comment, click its card. The card will expand to reveal an entry line where you can add a comment in response.

Replying to a comment.

Clicking the checkmark at the upper right marks the comment card as “resolved” and removes the card from the presentation. Clicking the card’s three-dot icon opens a menu that lets you edit or delete your comment.

To see a list of all comments: Click the Open comment history icon (the speech balloon) to the left of the Slideshow button. A sidebar will open along the right side of the screen; it lists all the comment cards in your presentation. When you click a comment on this list, the view of your presentation in the main window will jump to the cell where the comment is located and open its comment card.

The Comments pane lets you quickly review all comments and jump to specific ones.

For more details about collaborating on your presentation, including what it’s like to collaborate in real time, see “ How to collaborate on a document ” in our Google Drive guide. You can also collaborate on a presentation in Google Chat; that’s covered later in this story.

Recover older versions of a presentation

It’s easy to go too far when making tweaks to a presentation. Fortunately, it’s also easy to roll back to an earlier version of the presentation. Click File > Version history > See version history . This opens a panel on the right that shows a list of older versions of your presentation.

Using Version history to view an earlier version of a presentation. (Click image to enlarge it.)

To view an earlier version of your presentation: Click the date for it in the list. That version of the presentation will then appear in the main window.

To restore an earlier version so it replaces your current presentation: With the version you want to restore showing in the main window, click the yellow Restore this version button at the top of the screen. The restored version will then appear at the top of the version history list.

To give an older version a unique name: Click on its date. You’ll be prompted to type in words to replace the date. (The date and time will then appear in smaller size underneath the new name.)

Give a presentation

When it’s time to play your presentation to an audience, Google Slides has two modes: Slideshow and Presenter view. Slideshow mode essentially shows what your audience will see. Presenter view mode provides additional tools for your eyes only that run alongside Slideshow mode.

Slideshow mode: Click the Slideshow button at the upper-right corner of the screen. Google Slides will expand to full-screen view and show the slide that’s currently in the main window. (If you want to start the slideshow from the first slide in your presentation, click the down arrow to the right of the Slideshow button and select Start from beginning .)

The control bar in Slideshow mode lets you click through the slides, turn on auto-play, use a laser pointer effect, and more. (Click image to enlarge it.)

When you move the on-screen pointer to the lower-left corner of your presentation, a control bar appears. You use this to click forward and back through the slides. Clicking the three-dot icon on the control bar opens a menu with other controls, such as starting auto-play and adjusting how quickly it moves from slide to slide.

On this menu, Turn on the laser pointer turns the mouse pointer into a simulated red laser dot. Captions preferences — available only if you’re using a Chrome browser or Chromebook — lets you turn on real-time, automatic transcribing of your words as you say them (English only) and shows them to your audience as on-screen captions. Open speaker notes takes your presentation out of full screen and opens a separate “Presenter view” window, as described below.

Presenter view mode: Click the down arrow to the right of the Slideshow button and select Presenter view . This shows the presentation in your browser window and launches a separate window that assists you while you’re giving your presentation.

Presenter view lets you (but not your audience) see your speaker notes while presenting. (Click image to enlarge it.)

From the Presenter view window, you can jump to any slide in your presentation, read the speaker notes you wrote for a slide, and control the Q&A feature. There’s also a timer that you can set to remind yourself how much time you’re spending showing a slide — or the entire presentation — to your audience.

Click the AUDIENCE TOOLS tab to use the Q&A feature, which lets you take questions from your audience. To open questions for a slideshow, click the Start new button. A web link appears at the top of your presentation. An audience member watching your presentation on their computer, phone, or tablet can click/tap that link, which will take them to a page where they can type a question for you. You’ll see the question  in your Presenter view window, and you can choose whether to show their question to the rest of your audience during the presentation. To close questions for a presentation, turn the switch from ON to OFF .

Audience members can submit questions from their devices, and the presenter can decide whether to display them as part of the slideshow. (Click image to enlarge it.)

Present in Google Meet

Need to give a presentation during a Google Meet video meeting? As long as you’re using a Chromium-based browser (Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Opera, etc.), it’s easy: Toward the upper right of the Google Slides page, click the Google Meet icon. From the panel that opens, select a meeting that’s scheduled on your Google calendar today, start a new meeting, or type/paste in the web link or code that you have for another meeting.

Click the Meet icon to get started presenting to a video meeting.

If you start a new meeting, a sidebar for the meeting will open on the right. At the bottom of the sidebar, click the Present now icon (a box with an up arrow). On the panel that appears, select your presentation and click the Share button, and you’ll be presenting to the meeting.

Choose which tab or window you want to share and click the Share button. (Click image to enlarge it.)

If you join a scheduled meeting, you have two choices: “Join the call” and “Just present this tab.” If you click Join the call , a sidebar for the meeting will open on the right. Follow the same steps as above to present to the meeting. If you click Just present this tab , you’ll go directly to the panel where you select your presentation and click Share , but you won’t have a sidebar where you can follow the main meeting.

To stop sharing your presentation to the meeting, click the Stop sharing button at the top left of your browser window.

For more details about using Google Meet, see our Google Meet cheat sheet .

Download and export a presentation

Google Slides lets you download presentations for use offline. On the top menu, select File > Download and choose a file format. You can save your presentation to your PC as a PowerPoint (.pptx) file or in other formats such as PDF, or as JPG or PNG for an individual slide.

5 tips for working with Google Slides

Now that you’re comfortable working in Google Slides, try these intermediate tips.

Use the Google Slides mobile app

With the exception of the “Version history” tool, the Google Slides app for Android , iPhone , and iPad has many of the same features described in this guide.

When you have a slideshow open, the toolbar at the top of the screen lets you take a variety of actions:

• To present your slides on your phone or tablet, on a Chromecast device, or in a Google Meet meeting, tap the triangle icon.
• To share your presentation with other people, the headshot silhouette. (See “How to share from the Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, and Slides mobile apps” in our Google Drive cheat sheet .)
• To view all the comments in the presentation, tap the Comments icon (a chat balloon) if you see it in the toolbar, or tap the three-dot icon and select View comments from the menu that appears.
• The three-dot menu also lets you see the presentation’s Q&A history, export it, make it available offline, and more.

The Google Slides Android app.

To edit or comment on a slide: Tap the slide, and a menu will appear that lets you add or view comments for that slide or edit it. Tap an element on a slide, such as text or an image, and tools to edit that element will appear.

Any changes you make to your presentation in the mobile app are automatically saved and will appear the next time you open it in the Google Slides web app.

Get suggested slide layouts and content

Click the Explore icon at the lower-right corner of the screen. The Explore sidebar will open along the right side. In most cases, you’ll be presented with thumbnails of suggested layouts that Google Slides has automatically customized for the slide that’s open in the main window. Click the one you want, and it will be applied to the slide.

Use the Explore tool to get suggested layouts (left) and search for images (right).

At the top of the Explore sidebar is a search box. You can type in a word or phrase to find related content on the web or in your Google Drive. Search results appear on separate Web, Images, and Drive tabs in the sidebar. Click a web or Drive result to open it in a new browser tab. On the Images tab, click the + icon on the upper-right corner of an image to insert it onto your slide.

Create custom slide layouts to use as templates

You can design your own slide layouts to use as templates in any future presentation. First, open a new, blank presentation as described above. Then:

• On the menu bar over the blank presentation, select View > Theme builder .
• The main window switches to a layout editor. Toward the left you’ll see a column with the heading THEME on top and LAYOUTS just below that. Click the thumbnail of any layout in the LAYOUTS list. It will appear in the main window.
• You can remove objects that are already in any layout. For example, click on a block of text. A frame appears around the text. Without selecting the text itself, move the pointer to ward an edge of the frame, right-click, and select Delete from the menu that opens.

Creating a custom slide layout. (Click image to enlarge it.)

• Using the formatting toolbar above the slide, you can add new objects to the slide, including images, image placeholders, shapes, lines, and blocks for text. (Tip: enter placeholder words inside the text blocks.) When you click on any object, a frame appears around it. Drag and drop the frame to relocate it on the slide, or drag its edges to change its shape or size. You can also add or change the border and background colors for any object on the slide and/or change the background color for the whole slide.
• When you’re finished designing your layout, click the Rename button above the slide and give the layout a unique name.
• If you want to create another custom layout, click on the thumbnail of another layout under the column LAYOUTS and repeat the above steps starting from #3.
• When you are finished custom-designing all your layouts, click the X toward the upper-right of the slide layout in the main window.
• Along the top of the screen, click anywhere inside Untitled presentation and start typing. Tip: Use a name that indicates this is a template (e.g., “Annual Budget Presentation – Template”).

In the future, you can make new presentations starting from this template, and your custom slide layouts will be available.

• Open the template presentation you created in the steps above. On the menu bar, click File > Make a copy > Entire presentation . On the panel that opens, type in a name for the new presentation you want to create and click the Make a copy button. Google Slides will open this new presentation in a new browser tab.
• On the toolbar above the first slide of your new presentation, click Layout . From the panel of thumbnails that opens, select one of the layouts that you created. It will then be applied to the slide in the main window.

Collaborate on a presentation in Google Chat

An alternative way to collaborate on a presentation is to share it in Google Chat. Other people in your chat can add comments and help make changes to your presentation.

Start in Google Chat . To the left of the box where you type in your chat messages, click the + icon and select Drive file from the menu that opens. A panel will open over the screen listing the files in your Google Drive. Find and click your presentation to highlight it, then click INSERT on the lower-right corner.

You’ll be taken back to the chat message box. Click the blue right-pointing arrow to the right of the box, and a panel will open over the screen designating permissions for the shared presentation. By default, permissions are set to Comment. To change this, click Comment and select View or Edit . You can also allow the people in the chat to share a web link to your presentation with others outside of the chat by selecting Turn link sharing on .

You can share a presentation to individual or group chats in Google Chats. (Click image to enlarge it.)

After you’ve set the permissions, click SEND , and your message will appear in the chat stream with a large thumbnail of your presentation. To open a presentation in the chat, click the thumbnail. The presentation will open inside a large window that’s laid out alongside the right of the chat stream.

This is actually Google Slides running inside the chat window with your presentation loaded in it. Thus, most of the Slides commenting and editing tools are available for you and others in the chat to use on your presentation (if you granted them permission to comment or edit). The user interface is the same, except there’s no menu bar.

Collaborating on a presentation from within a Google Chat. (Click image to enlarge it.)

Use keyboard shortcuts

Save time in Slides by using keyboard shortcuts for common tasks. Below are some of the most useful to know. For more, select Help > Keyboard shortcuts from the top menu when you have a spreadsheet open or press Ctrl + / (Windows, Chrome OS) or ⌘ + / (macOS).

Handy Google Slides keyboard shortcuts

This story was originally published in September 2019 and updated in August 2022.

Related content

Put not your trust in windows — or crowdstrike, crowdstrike ceo apologizes for crashing it systems around the world, details fix, download our desk-booking software enterprise buyer’s guide, blue screen of death strikes crowd of crowdstrike servers, from our editors straight to your inbox.

Howard Wen ( www.howardwen.com ) is a longtime contributor to Computerworld . He specializes in explainer guides, how-tos, and reviews of office applications and productivity tools.

More from this author

Make slack’s design update work for you, microsoft onedrive cheat sheet: using onedrive for web, google spaces cheat sheet: how to get started, microsoft onedrive cheat sheet: using onedrive in windows, google sheets power tips: how to use dropdown lists, 9 chrome extensions that upgrade google meet, google workspace power tips: tap into cross-app productivity, how to use google’s genai-powered note-taking app, most popular authors.

• Gyana Swain

Show me more

Get ready for olympic-size threats during the paris games.

13 fast fixes for common Android problems

Apple Intelligence doesn’t use YouTube, but does it matter?

Is it fair to call the Vision Pro a flop?

Podcast: Why a TikTok ban makes sense

Podcast: Are audio AI companies infringing on musicians' rights?

Does AI need to be for 'everyone'?

It's OK to call Apple Vision Pro a flop

What will spatial computing look like in 2030?

Sponsored Links

• Get Cisco UCS X-Series Chassis and Fabric Interconnects offer.

How to Present PowerPoint Slides in Google Meet

Your changes have been saved

Email Is sent

Please verify your email address.

You’ve reached your account maximum for followed topics.

How I Use Google's Custom Language Model to Supercharge My Studies

Here's why i love this free evernote alternative, i used to love duolingo, but it's fallen so far in these 5 ways.

As virtual meetings become more common in professional settings, knowing how to present PowerPoint slides in Google Meet is essential. If you're preparing for your first virtual presentation, you might have questions and concerns.

How do I share my slides? Will my transitions display correctly? How do I engage with remote participants while presenting? Don't worry, we've got you covered. This article will provide clear answers and guidance to ensure a seamless presentation experience. Let’s get started.

How to Present PowerPoint Slideshow in Google Meet

Instead of sharing your device’s screen in Google Meet , the best way to present is to share the window with your PowerPoint slides. This ensures your audience won’t see any sensitive notifications or other areas of your desktop. Here’s how to go about it.

• Open your PowerPoint presentation.
• Join a Google Meet meeting. If you’re the host, you have to first create a Google Meet .

If your PowerPoint window is minimized, it won’t appear under the Window tab. Therefore, ensure it's maximized and running in the background.

When you hide the toolbar, it becomes a minimized Chrome window. Click the Chrome icon to reveal it when you're ready to stop sharing.

Slideshow mode provides the best viewing experience for your audience by displaying your slide in full screen, without distractions like ribbons and slide sorter. It also shows transitions and animations on the slide.

• When you’re done, hit Esc on your keyboard to exit the slideshow.
• Click Stop sharing .

How to Present PowerPoint Slides in Google Meet and Still See Participants

With the previous method, once you launch your presentation in slideshow mode, you won’t be able to see your participant’s faces and any actions they take (e.g., hand raise, chats, etc). But if you want to do both, follow these steps.

• When it’s your turn to present, click the Present now icon.

• Click Stop sharing or Stop presenting when you're finished.

Deliver Engaging PowerPoint Presentations in Google Meet

Presenting PowerPoint slides in Google Meet is a handy skill in today's digital workplace. This guide has covered all the key steps you need to know—so you can be at ease while presenting and give your audience the best viewing experience.

With practice, each PowerPoint presentation in Google Meet becomes easier than the last. And if you dabble with Google Slides, learning to present them in Google Meet is a plus.

• Productivity
• Microsoft PowerPoint
• Google Meet

• Slidesgo School
• PowerPoint Tutorials

How to Use the Presentation Modes and the Screen Recording Features in PowerPoint

After designing all the slides for your presentation, the next and last step is presenting in front of your audience. In this new Slidesgo School tutorial, you’ll see how the presenter view works and how you can record your presentation .

Presentation Modes

Presentation modes — set up slide show, presentation modes — record slide show.

• There are different presentation modes in PowerPoint, besides the one you can find at the bottom of the screen.
• To access the presentation modes, go to the Slide Show tab.
• The first two options allow you to start the presentation from the beginning or from the currently selected slide.

• If you choose Present Online, an URL will be generated, which you can then share with your potential online viewers. After clicking this button, a new window will open, displaying info about the Microsoft Office online presentation service and a checkbox to enable remote download for your online audience. To enjoy this service, you need an Office 365 account. When you’re ready, click Connect to generate the URL.
• If you choose Custom Slide Show, you can select which slides to display in your presentation.  First, create a new custom slide show and select the slides that you want to display. Then, click Add, enter the name of the presentation and click OK. This new custom presentation will appear on the list. Select it and click Show to begin the presentation.
• In the Set Up group you’ll find options to set up the presentation, hide slides, rehearse your presentation and even record it.
• Click Set Up Slide Show to adjust several settings regarding your presentation. You’ll find more information in the next section of this tutorial .
• If you click Hide Slide, the selected slide won’t show up during your presentation. Hidden slides will appear faded out on the list and their numbers will be crossed out.
• If you click Record Slide Show, you’ll be able to record your presentation from the beginning or from the current slide. We’ll go into detail in the last section of this tutorial.
• There are several checkboxes regarding whether to play narrations, use timings and show media controls.

• In the Monitors group you can choose which screen to display your presentation.
• The last group, Captions & Subtitles, is only available in Office 365. You’ll find options to enable subtitles, which will be generated out of your speech (so you’ll need to have a mic). There are settings to change the language and the position of the subtitles.
• Open your presentation in PowerPoint.
• Go to the Slide Show tab.
• In the Set Up group, click Set Up Slide Show. A new window will open, where you’ll find several options.
• In the top-left corner, under “Show type”, you can choose whether the presentation will be in fullscreen with speaker notes, windowed, or in fullscreen without speaker notes or the menu bar.

• Under “Show options” you can choose whether to show the presentation without narration or animations, or disable the hardware graphics acceleration (for better performance). You can also set the pen and laser pointer color.

• Under “Show slides”, you can choose which slides to show in your presentation. You can select all of them, a specific range or a custom slideshow.
• There are other settings to determine how to advance slides (manually or using timings), what the resolution will be and whether to use the presenter view.
• Click Record Slide Show. From the drop-down menu, select From the Current Slide or From the Beginning.
• A new window will open, along with the presentation in fullscreen mode. At the top-left you’ll find a button to start recording.

Do you find this article useful?

Related tutorials.

How to Use the Presenter View in Google Slides

Google Slides, like PowerPoint, has different presentation modes that can come in handy when you’re presenting and you want your slideshow to look smooth. Whether you’re looking for slides only, speaker notes or the Q&A feature, in this new Google Slides tutorial, you’ll learn about these and their respective settings. Ready? Then let’s explore the presenter view! 

How to Download Google Slides Templates

When preparing a presentation, many people start panicking because they realize how much time it will take to edit each and every slide. Creating them from scratch, filling them in, looking for pictures, moving the elements...How stressful! But there is a solution that saves you a lot of time. We're sure that you've browsed the internet for templates, or basically, pre-established designs and elements, that can be downloaded for free and can be edited to your liking. Are we right? Then, we have some good news for you!

Discover our collection of printable templates

With the advance of technology, printing has become something that is no longer a necessity. Smartphones have made the paper format less and less frequent, but there are still certain cases in which having physical resources is much more convenient. Whether it's for taking notes, handing out assignments, making worksheets or handing out business cards or invitations, it's necessary to print your customized designs.From now on, in every Slidesgo printable presentation that you download, you will find the instructions for printing on the third slide. Depending on the style, colors or format of each presentation, we will tell you if you can...

How to Add Superscript and Subscript in Google Slides

Let’s take the most famous formula: E=mc^2, Einstein’s relativity equation. It wouldn’t be the same if it was E=mc2, right? Okay, yes, some people write it like that because it’s very famous and it won’t be misunderstood. But technically… It can! This is where the sophistication of superscript or subscript enters the room! Do you know how to write them in equations, copyright brands or even footnotes in your presentations? Let’s figure out how.

Unsupported browser

This site was designed for modern browsers and tested with Internet Explorer version 10 and later.

It may not look or work correctly on your browser.

• Communication

How to Present a PowerPoint Presentation on Google Meet

Are you getting ready for an online presentation on Google Meet? Stay tuned to learn how to share a PowerPoint in Google Meet.

Presenting in Google Meet is convenient option if you can’t meet with people in person to give your presentation. Use it to have real-time meetings or without video. Before setting up your presentation in Google Meet, you’ll need to create a presentation.

In this tutorial you’ll learn how to present in Google Meet. You'll also see some premium PowerPoint templates . Plus, there's a question-and-answer section and a design trends section to make sure that you've got the best presentation for Google Meet.

Once you complete your PowerPoint presentation, you can then present it in Google Meet. Let's look into how to present on Google Meet. For this tutorial, we’ll use the Niche PowerPoint template .

Before your presentation, you'll want to customize the template. Learn how to do that in this tutorial:

Once you've customized your template, here's how to present a PowerPoint on Google Meet:

1. Open the PPT file

To begin, locate the PowerPoint file on your PC that you want to share on Google Meet and open it.

2. Log Into Your Google Account

You won't be able to use Google Meet unless you're logged into your Google account. So, the next step is to make sure that your Google account is logged in.

3. Create a Meeting

Open a browser and go to https://meet.google.com/ . Click on the blue New Meeting button in left of the screen.

When you click on this button, a menu will drop down where you've got the choice to

• Create a meeting for later
• Start an instant meeting
• Schedule in Google Calendar

Click on Start an Instant meeting to start a meeting. A  popup displays asking for access to your camera and microphone.

Click Allow to give Meet access to your camera and microphone. 

4. Start Your Meeting

Now that you've started a meeting. In the left upper corner, a popup window gives you a link that you can use to add others to your Google Meet session.

Click the icon in the left of the gray bar to copy the link and email to the people you want to invite to your meeting. Or add others to the meeting by using the blue button. 

If you don't want people don’t see you, click the Camera button on the bottom of the screen.

5. Give Your Presentation 

On the bottom of the screen, click on the Present now button. When you click on this button, a menu will pop up. In this menu, you've got three options:

• Your entire screen . Shows your entire screen in the meeting window.
• A window . Allows you to select a single window to share Google Meet.
• A tab . Share a selected tab with the meeting. 

Choose the best option for you. I recommend clicking on the A window option to share the window where you've got your presentation open. When you choose this option, a window pops up that gives you an option to choose from your open windows. 

Once you’ve selected the window where your presentation is, click on the Share button on the bottom of the window.

6. Start Your Presentation

On your open presentation, click Slideshow from the menu bar. Then click From Beginning . Click through the slides at your own pace. If your microphone is turned on, you can talk about each slide. 

You're now sharing your PowerPoint presentation in Google Meet. 

7. End the Meeting

To end your Google Meet presentation , click on the Stop Presenting button in the top right corner. When you click on this button, you’ll stop sharing your window, but you’ll still be in Google Meet. To leave the meeting, click on the Leave Call button.

Find the Best PowerPoint Template for Presenting in Google Meets (Envato Elements vs GraphicRiver)

1. key benefits of envato elements.

Finding a good template that looks good enough to present can be hard. You want a template that looks professional and not sloppy.

The best solution is to use a professional premium template from Envato Elements. Professionals make all the templates on Envato Elements to have the best design.

Plus, Envato Elements is a subscription service. Once you subscribe, become a member, and pay a low monthly fee, you’ll get unlimited downloads. The unlimited downloads include:

• presentation templates
• and much more

Using a template saves you time because you're starting with a good base. With a template, just add your information then make any customizations you want. So, you don’t need to worry about designing your own presentation.

2. Key Benefits of GraphicRiver

GraphicRiver is a digital marketplace where you buy templates and other digital assets for one time use.

GraphicRiver is perfect if you aren’t sure about paying for a subscription. It's got thousands of premium templates and other digital assets that you can buy one at a time.

What’s the Right Choice for You?

If you've got a job where you’ll need PowerPoint templates or other digital assets often, then Envato Elements is the right option for you. With an Envato Elements subscription, you’ll save more money than buying each template separately.

If you don’t need templates or other digital assets often, then GraphicRiver is the best option. Professionals make both options to have the trendy but professional designs. So, either option is a good choice.

5 Top Premium PowerPoint Templates

Here are some of the best PowerPoint templates that you can use to present in Google Meet:

1. Hirata Business PowerPoint Template

Hirata Business PowerPoint Template is a great template for presenting in Google Meet. This template comes with a total of 39 slides. Easily add an image to your template by using the picture placeholder. 

2. Probiz Business PowerPoint

This template that can be used in Google Meet has a minimalistic style. Here are some highlights of this template:

• three premade color schemes: blue, brown, and orange
• both a light and dark theme
• easily add images with picture placeholders
• comes in the widescreen and standard version

Morphe is a minimal multipurpose PowerPoint presentation template that can be used for presenting in Google Meet. This template comes with a total of 35 slides, including gallery and portfolio slides. The slides come in a 16:9 aspect ratio.

4. Rising Multipurpose PowerPoint Template

Rising is a multipurpose PowerPoint template that can be used in Google Meet to present. Here are some key features of this template:

• 240 total slides
• 5 premade color schemes
• picture placeholders

Everything in the Rising premium PowerPoint template is entirely editable.

Buter is a multipurpose template that can be used presenting in Google Meet. This template comes with over 150 total slides and five premade color schemes. Buter also comes with illustrations and infographics. Easily add images to this template by using the picture placeholders.

Find More Templates 

Are you still looking for the right template for your Google Meet present?  Here are some articles with even more premium PowerPoint templates:

How to Customize Your PowerPoint Template (FAQ Section)

PowerPoint has a lot of features. If you've got questions about PowerPoint, it's perfectly normal. Here's a helpful tutorial guide to help you learn more. Plus, here are five common questions and answers:

1. How Do I Get My Audience More Engaged With My Presentation?

There are many ways that you can engage your audience.

One way to engage your audience is to create an interactive quiz. Interactive quizzes are a good way to make sure that your audience pays attention while presenting to them. Here's how to create an interactive quiz in PowerPoint: 

2. If I'm Presenting Data, How Do I Know What Chart to Use?

Knowing which chart to use in your presentation is important. Using the wrong chart can confuse the audience. Study the following tutorial for more information on how to create charts in Microsoft PowerPoint: 

3. Is There a Quick Way I Can Edit My Template Layout?

Yes. Slides have a slide layout. When you’re customizing your template, a slide's layout can make the slide look professional or unprofessional. Here's more information on how to edit your slide layout: 

4. What's a Great Way to End My PowerPoint Presentation?

There are several different types of presentations that you can do. They're persuasive, informative, decision-driven, and introductory.  Each type of presentation has a different ending that you can do. To learn more, read this article: 

5. How to I Create More Interesting Slides?

You don’t want your presentation to be boring because the audience will lose interest. There are some things you can do to make your slide more interesting, for example, decluttering your slides. For even more tips, read this article: 

5 Design Trends for Making Presentations to Present in Google Meet

When making your presentation, you want the presentation to be effective. Having an attractive design is a way to make your presentation more effective . Here are design five trends to be aware of:

1. Gradient Color

Solid colors can be boring. So, if you’re looking for a way to make your Google Meet presentation more visually appealing, use gradient color. Gradient color is where a color gradually transitions into another color. You can have gradient color with similar colors or contrasting colors.

2. Keep It Simple

Simple Google Meet presentation slides make the audience focus on what you want them too. This trend allows you to add the most important information to the side and leave the non-important information off. This look means less design, text, and images.

Previous trends using neon colors were in. But now those are out, and pastels are in.

Pastels add a nice touch of color to your presentation slide without distracting your audience from your main point. Pastel colors are not only less distracting but add an element of fun and whimsy to your slide design.

Visuals such as images and video have the power to evoke emotion from your audience. When choosing which visuals to use in your Google Meet presentation , choose high-quality visuals. They'll have the biggest impact on the audience.

Along with high-quality visuals, choosing visuals that are relevant to your topic is important too.

5. Nature-Inspired

Taking inspiration from nature is a recent trend that's popular in presentation design. Nature inspiration can mean having leaves and flowers on your slide or having a color scheme of natural colors. This trend goes well with whatever topic your Google Meet presentation may be about.

Start Your PowerPoint in Google Meet Today!

Now that you’ve read about how to present on Google Meet, use that knowledge to give a PowerPoint presentation for your next Google Meet call.

If you want a good base for your Google Meet Present and to save time, a premium template from Envato Elements is for you. But, if you don’t have many projects where you’ll need premium templates or digital assets, then GraphicRiver is also a great option.

Good luck on your presentation in Google Meet!

Stack Exchange Network

Stack Exchange network consists of 183 Q&A communities including Stack Overflow , the largest, most trusted online community for developers to learn, share their knowledge, and build their careers.

Q&A for work

Connect and share knowledge within a single location that is structured and easy to search.

How can I edit a presentation while in presentation mode?

I'm looking for a way to present to a live audience and incorporate their input into my presentation. With a "static" presentation, you have to keep taking down, editing, and then re-presenting the slide deck. I'm looking for a way to incorporate and save changes directly into the live presentation.

I use Keynote and PowerPoint, so a method to accomplish this with either would be ideal. But I am open to a solution that requires something else.

• microsoft-powerpoint
• presentations
• iwork-keynote

• I would gladly take a hack for PowerPoint or Keynote. That would be the preferred method –  Max Phillips Commented Jan 10, 2017 at 21:46
• Would a PDF with fillable forms meet your requirements? It's not clear what sort of input you want to accept. If it's just text, then running a PDF reader in full-screen mode might do what you want. –  AFH Commented Jan 10, 2017 at 22:19
• There is no hack. This behavior has been "normal" in Powerpoint at least for quite a while. 99% of people present by duplicating their screen (same thing on projector and their computer) but if you extend your display to the projector Powerpoint by default uses a different mode that has a special view on the computer display an the full-screen slide on the projecting display. And... you can edit in real time, while presenting, with live updates to the slides. –  music2myear Commented Jan 10, 2017 at 23:00

3 Answers 3

For Windows:

PowerPoint has had this capability for quite some time. The key is to NOT duplicate your computer screen with the presenting screen ( TV, projector, other screen, etc. I'll use "projector" in this how-to for simplicity purposes. ) The only requirement is that you have some screen besides the projector.

With a Windows computer, when you connect to a projector use the Win + P command and choose the Extend the display. This means that your computer screen and the projector will show different things. You can also do this in Display Settings if you're more familiar with that.

PowerPoint has some intelligence to determine which screen is a projector and which is not, but if you need more control over which screen the presentation is on and which one will be your control screen, in the Slide Show tab you'll find Set Up Slide Show, which includes settings for this.

Another thing to keep in mind is that Presenter View (also an option in the Slide Show tab) can make things a little more difficult, but not much. When using Presenter Mode, the default behavior is for the Presenter Mode window to go full-screen, and you cannot edit in Presenter Mode. However, resizing the Presenter Mode window should allow you to easily bring up the main PowerPoint window, which is where the magic will happen.

So, all that aside, the meat of the solution:

Just edit the darn thing. That's all it takes.

With the presentation running happily away on the projector and the main PowerPoint window up on your computer screen, you can edit as much as you please and your edits will be reflected in real-time in the presentation itself ( Note: I've known about the Presenter Mode and running presentations on multiple monitors for years, but am only testing the specifics of editing in PowerPoint 2016. I do not know how the behavior is different in previous versions. ).

I don't know. I could not find specific documentation of this ability/feature for either Keynote or PowerPoint for Mac. While in Windows the Presenter view can be resized, some suggest this is not an option in Office for Mac.

One work around would be to use the Freeze capability of most projectors to freeze the current image on the screen, then exit the presentation on the computer, edit the slideshow, begin it at that slide again, and then unfreeze the projector image.

• I'm pretty familiar with extended desktop. It's what I work in most of the time. Is this procedure the same on Mac? And what version of PowerPoint are you using? –  Max Phillips Commented Jan 11, 2017 at 16:26
• Macs an Keynote have generally encouraged people to use the extended desktop, so I'm not surprised you're more familiar with that mode. Unfortunately, I do not have the ability to test on an Apple computer. I tested this while writing the answer on Office 2016, which is the same version available for Mac. –  music2myear Commented Jan 11, 2017 at 16:38
• I just can't figure out how to resize the Presenter Mode window. If I play the show without presenter view it takes over the PowerPoint module, there is no window behind it. –  Max Phillips Commented Jan 11, 2017 at 16:44
• Interesting. I know the feature isn't new (or limited) to 2016 because of the answers to this question from 3 years ago: superuser.com/questions/681019/… –  music2myear Commented Jan 11, 2017 at 17:04
• I'm trying to find documentation on the Mac versions. –  music2myear Commented Jan 11, 2017 at 17:04

For Mac using PowerPoint 16:

Open the presentation you want to show. On the Mac menu bar go to window and click New Window.

This will pop out a duplicate PowerPoint presentation. Drag one of them to the second monitor and run it under setup option: "Browsed by an individual (window)"

You can now edit and add slides on the fly in the window that remains on your main desktop without interrupting the presentation. You can even edit the slide that you are currently showing on the screen and it will update automatically as you change it.

• TIL. Sweet. I'm glad you were able to figure it out. Feel free to mark this as the answer, but I'd also recommend modifying your original question to indicate you're talking about Mac OS, which would help clarify why my answer was not the best. –  music2myear Commented Jan 11, 2017 at 23:11
• I want to give credit it where it's deserved. I wasn't trying to steal it. Just wanted to make sure that it was out there for people to find. –  Max Phillips Commented Jan 12, 2017 at 4:43
• No worries. We're about the best answers, and sometimes details such as the OS you're limited to help make sure answers that sound like they may have multiple possible answers can be narrowed down to the right one. –  music2myear Commented Jan 15, 2017 at 19:23

Windows 7 x64 using PowerPoint 2016

When using two screens make sure to uncheck "Use Presenter View" and start your slideshow

On Screen 1 you will be able to edit text on the fly and even add slides.

On Screen 2 you will see updates in real-time. If a slide is added in Screen 1 then you will need to activate Screen 2 and press the left or right arrows respectively.

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for browse other questions tagged microsoft-powerpoint presentations iwork-keynote ..

• The Overflow Blog
• How to bridge the gap between Web2 skills and Web3 workflows
• Featured on Meta
• Upcoming initiatives on Stack Overflow and across the Stack Exchange network...
• Announcing a change to the data-dump process

Hot Network Questions

• Do we always use "worsen" with something which is already bad?
• Were ancient Greece tridents different designs from other historical examples?
• Unused Private Pension fund transfer to offspring
• I found a counterexample to an assumption in a proof but not to its result – can I publish this as a paper?
• How well do universal rack rails work with vertical spacing?
• Tied notes that could be dotted
• Why are some elves royalty?
• How can I connect my thick wires into an ikea wire connector
• What's to prevent us from concluding that Revelation 13:3 has been fulfilled through Trump?
• Setting position of PlotLegends affect position of PlotLabel
• Is it fair to say truth is used more in logic than in math? If so, what are the reasons for doing so?
• How can I handle an ambitious colleague, promoted ahead of me, that is self-serving and not that great at his job?
• Alternative to isinglass for tarts or other desserts
• Old client wants files from materials created for them 6 years ago
• Is there an equivalent of caniuse for commands on posix systems?
• Can a group have a subgroup whose complement is closed under the group operation?
• How to fix fins clipping
• Fixing Bathroom Fan
• Order of pole of Poincaré series
• How much coolant drip is normal on old car without overflow tank
• How to move the color blocks into the red frame region marked?
• Are foldable tires less puncture resistant
• Why did C++ standard library name the containers map and unordered_map instead of map and ordered_map?
• replacing a 15-amp breaker with a 20-amp breaker

• Start the presentation and see your notes in Presenter view Article
• Add speaker notes to your slides Article
• Rehearse and time the delivery of a presentation Article
• Record a slide show with narration and slide timings Article
• Print your PowerPoint slides, handouts, or notes Article
• Create a self-running presentation Article

Start the presentation and see your notes in Presenter view

Using Presenter view is a great way to view your presentation with speaker notes on one computer (your laptop, for example), while only the slides themselves appear on the screen that your audience sees (like a larger screen you're projecting to).

If you're using a newer version of PowerPoint, just connect the monitors and PowerPoint automatically sets up Presenter View for you.

If Presenter view appears on the wrong screen, you can swap the display quickly .

Turn off Presenter view if you prefer not to use it.

Start presenting

On the Slide Show tab, in the Start Slide Show group, select From Beginning .

Use the controls in Presenter view

To move to the previous or next slide, select Previous or Next .

To view all the slides in your presentation, select See all slides .

Tip:  You’ll see thumbnails of all the slides in your presentation (as shown below), making it easy to jump to a specific slide in the show.

To view a detail in your slide up close, select Zoom into slide , and then point to the part you want to see.

For more details on zooming in, see Zoom in to part of a slide .

To point to or write on your slides as you present, select Pen and laser pointer tools .

Press the Esc key when you want to turn off the pen, laser pointer, or highlighter.

To hide or unhide the current slide in your presentation, select Black or unblack slide show .

You can use PowerPoint on your smartphone as a remote control to run your presentation and view your speaker notes. See Using a laser pointer on your smartphone when presenting in PowerPoint for more information, including a brief video.

Swap the Presenter view and Slide view monitors

To manually determine which screen shows your notes in Presenter view and which shows only the slides themselves, on the task bar at the top of Presenter view, select Display Settings , and then select Swap Presenter View and Slide Show .

What the notes look like in Presenter view

Tip:  You can add notes either while you’re presenting, directly from Presenter view, or as you’re editing your presentation. For information on how to add speaker notes to your presentation see  Add speaker notes to your slides.

The notes appear in a pane on the right. If you need to add or delete something, simply click in the text box to edit it. The text wraps automatically, and a vertical scroll bar appears if necessary. You can change the size of the text in the Notes pane by using the two buttons at the lower left corner of the Notes pane:

To change the size of the panes in Presenter View, point your mouse at the vertical line that separates them, then click and drag.

Tip:  If you don't need to see the current slide in Presenter View at all, and would like your notes to be larger, drag that vertical separator line all the way to the left.

Turn off Presenter view

If you want Presenter view turned off while you are showing your presentation to others:

On the Slide Show tab of the ribbon, clear the check box named Use Presenter View .

Keep your slides updated

If you're working with a team of people to create your slide deck it may be that changes are being made to the slides right up to the last minute. Traditionally once you've started your presentation your slides wouldn't update. If you're using PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 you have the option to let your slides be updated by your team even as you're presenting so that you always have the up-to-the-minute changes.

You can turn this on by going to the Slide Show tab of the ribbon, selecting Set Up Slide Show , and checking the box for Keep slides updated .  

If you've already started your presentation and you want to make sure that setting is on, you can do that from Presenter view. Select the More slide show options button (which looks like three dots) and on the menu make sure Keep Slides Updated is checked.

Using a laser pointer on your smartphone when presenting in PowerPoint

To start using Presenter view, select Slide Show > Presenter View .

To move to the previous or next slide, select the Previous or Next arrow.

To turn off the pen, laser pointer, or highlighter, press the Esc key.

To make the screen black or to un-black the screen, Press b on the keyboard.

Extend your Mac desktop to the second monitor

On the Apple menu, select System Preferences .

Open the Displays app.

Click the Arrangement tab in the dialog box.

Clear the Mirror Displays check box.

By doing this process, you now have a two-monitor setup. You can present a PowerPoint slide show on one screen while having other applications open on the other screen, keeeping those other apps private to yourself.

To manually determine which screen shows your notes in Presenter view and which shows only the slides themselves, on the task bar at the top left of Presenter view, select Swap Displays .

When your computer is connected to a projector and you start Presenter View, it appears on your computer's screen, while only the slides appear on the projector screen.

The notes appear in a pane on the right:

The text wraps automatically, and a vertical scroll bar appears if necessary.

You can edit the text in the Notes pane.

You can change the size of the text in the Notes pane by using the two buttons at the lower left corner of the Notes pane:

You can adjust the size of the current slide, and notes and next slide panels, by using your mouse to grab and drag the vertical line that separates the two panels.

Turn off Presenter view before a presentation begins

On the PowerPoint menu, select Preferences .

In the PowerPoint Preferences dialog box, under Output and Sharing , click Slide Show .

In the Slide Show dialog box, clear the Always start Presenter View with 2 displays check box.

Close the dialog box.

Turn off Presenter view during a presentation

At the top of the Presentation view window, click Use Slide Show .

This button closes Presenter view. As a result, both your personal computer screen and the projector screen show the slide show.

If you're working with a team of people to create your slide deck it may be that changes are being made to the slides right up to the last minute. Traditionally once you've started your presentation your slides wouldn't update. If you're using PowerPoint for Microsoft 365 for Mac you have the option to let your slides be updated by your team even as you're presenting so that you always have the up-to-the-minute changes.

You can turn this on by going to the Slide Show tab of the ribbon, and checking the box for Keep Slides Updated .  

Create a self-running presentation

Record your slide show

Keep slides updated

Need more help?

Want more options.

Explore subscription benefits, browse training courses, learn how to secure your device, and more.

Microsoft 365 subscription benefits

Microsoft 365 training

Microsoft security

Accessibility center

Communities help you ask and answer questions, give feedback, and hear from experts with rich knowledge.

Ask the Microsoft Community

Microsoft Tech Community

Windows Insiders

Microsoft 365 Insiders

Was this information helpful?

Thank you for your feedback.

• Help Center
• Google Docs Editors
• Privacy Policy
• Terms of Service
• Submit feedback

Switch from Microsoft PowerPoint to Google Slides

Learn the differences between Microsoft PowerPoint and Google Slides and get best practices for collaboration at work or school.

  On this page

Comparison at a glance, related topics, what you'll need.

Get Slides: slides.google.com  |  Android app  |  iOS app   Note : The instructions in this guide are primarily web only. Get switching information for mobile devices .

Expand all   |   Collapse all

*  Note : The instructions in this guide are primarily web only. Get switching information for mobile devices .

To set up Slides, or get troubleshooting help, try these guides instead:

• Get started with Slides
• Get help with Slides

Want advanced Google Workspace features for your business?

Try Google Workspace today!

Google, Google Workspace, and related marks and logos are trademarks of Google LLC. All other company and product names are trademarks of the companies with which they are associated.

Need more help?

Try these next steps:.

Using Google products, like Google Docs, at work or school? Try powerful tips, tutorials, and templates. Learn to work on Office files without installing Office, create dynamic project plans and team calendars, auto-organize your inbox, and more.