How to Use Google Slides: The Beginner's Guide (First Deck, Design, Present, and Share)
CodexFuse Team · 2026-10-28T02:49:25.053Z · 10 min read
Google Slides is the free presentation app that comes with every Google account. This beginner's guide shows you how to make your first deck, add slides and themes, present with speaker notes, and share it safely.
Learning how to use Google Slides takes about twenty minutes — and most of that is building your first deck, not learning the buttons. Google Slides is the free presentation app that comes with every Google account: a way to build slide decks in your browser, open them from any device, and share them with other people without emailing files back and forth. You already have it if you have a Gmail address. This Google Slides tutorial walks you through the whole thing in order — opening Slides for the first time, making your first deck, adding slides and a theme, presenting with speaker notes, and sharing it safely — so you can stop worrying about the software and get on with the talk.
Your decks live in Google Drive, so if you have never opened Drive before, start with our guide to use Google Drive — everything below assumes your files save there automatically. If Drive is already full, free up Google Drive storage first, because a full Drive cannot save your deck.
How do you use Google Slides?
To use Google Slides, go to slides.google.com, sign in with your Google account, and click Blank to start a new presentation. Name it by clicking Untitled presentation, add slides with Ctrl+M, pick a look under Slide > Change theme, and click Slideshow to present. That is the whole method at its simplest — everything else is designing and sharing what you made.
- Open Slides. Go to slides.google.com and sign in with your Google account.
- Start a deck. Click Blank under "Start a new presentation," or pick a template.
- Name it. Click Untitled presentation at the top left and type a name.
- Add slides. Press Ctrl+M or choose Slide > New slide, then pick a layout.
- Design it. Choose Slide > Change theme to restyle every slide at once.
- Present or share. Click Slideshow to present, or Share to let others in.
What do you need before you start?
You need a Google account, and that is the whole list. Google Slides is an online presentation app that lets you create and format presentations and work with other people, according to Google's own help page — there is nothing to install, nothing to buy, and no desktop app to download. It runs in any modern browser on Windows, Mac, or Chromebook, and the same files open in the Google Slides app on Android and iPhone.
One thing to know before your first deck: there is no Save button anywhere in Google Slides. While you are online, your work saves to Google Drive as you type — the words Saved to Drive appear beside the file name at the top, and read "Saving..." for a moment while a change is being stored. This is the single most confusing thing for new users, and it is also the best part: you cannot lose a deck by forgetting to save it.
How to create your first presentation in Google Slides
Open the Slides home screen at slides.google.com. In the top left, under "Start a new presentation," click New — this creates and opens your new presentation. You can also create new presentations from the URL slides.google.com/create, which skips the home screen entirely.
Your new file opens with one title slide reading "Click to add title" and "Click to add subtitle." A Templates panel may also open at the right, with ready-made presentations from Google such as a business proposal. Pick one if it fits your topic, or close the panel with its X and start from the blank slide. Either way, your first job is the same: click Untitled presentation at the top left, type a name, and press Enter. The name you type becomes the file name in Drive, and the title text on the slide takes its cue from it — you can accept that or delete it and type something else.
Now click Click to add title on the slide and type the title, then click the subtitle box and type a line under it. The thumbnail in the filmstrip on the left shows the same text. That is your first slide done, and it already saved itself.
How to add slides and pick a layout
Open the Slide menu and choose New slide. The menu shows Ctrl+M beside it, and that shortcut adds slides one by one without touching the menu. The plus button near the left end of the toolbar is the same New slide button. Each new slide arrives with a title box and a text box, ready to type in.
Every slide has a layout, which is the arrangement of boxes on it. Click Layout in the toolbar to see eleven of them, from Title slide and Section header to Big number and Blank. The layout your selected slide already uses is outlined. Click a different layout to rearrange the selected slide, or press Esc to close the list without a change. A layout only arranges one slide — the theme, covered next, is what styles the whole deck.
To put your slides in order, drag a thumbnail up or down the filmstrip and let go in the gap where it belongs — the slides after it renumber themselves. For a longer deck, the grid icon at the bottom left of the filmstrip switches to grid view, showing all your slides on one screen in order. The Slide menu also holds the rest of the slide jobs: Duplicate slide, Delete slide, Skip slide, Change background, Apply layout, Transition, Edit theme, and Change theme.
How to design your deck: themes, fonts and backgrounds
A theme sets the fonts, colours, and background of the whole presentation, while a layout only arranges one slide. Open Slide > Change theme, and a Themes panel opens at the right with a small picture of each theme — among them Simple Light, Streamline, and Focus, plus Import theme at the bottom. Click one, and every slide changes at the same moment. You can swap themes at any time, so do not agonise over the first pick.
To change the background of one slide only, select it and open Slide > Change background, choose a colour or an image, and click Done. Add to theme in the same box puts that background on every slide instead. This is the cleanest way to make a section divider slide: a solid colour background with a short title, while the rest of the deck keeps the theme.
Three design rules keep a first deck readable. First, one theme for the whole deck — a different look on every slide reads as a mistake, not variety. Second, short lines: if a slide needs a paragraph, the paragraph belongs in your speaker notes, not on the screen. Third, one transition used throughout, applied to all slides in one go — the next section covers that. Your audience reads the slide in seconds and listens to you for the rest.
How to add text, images, charts and video
The boxes that come with a layout take most of your text: click "Click to add title" or "Click to add text" and type. For text anywhere else, choose Insert > Text box and drag on the slide where the box should go. Selected, a box shows round handles at its corners and sides and a turn handle above it, and the toolbar gains fill, border, and font controls. Dragging the box by its edge moves it and keeps its size.
The Insert menu holds everything else: Image, Text box, Shape, Building blocks, Diagram, Table, Chart, Line, Word art, Video and Audio, Special characters, Animation, Link, and Comment. To add a picture, choose Insert > Image and pick where it comes from: Upload from computer, Stock & web, Drive & Photos, Camera, or By URL. Choose the picture and click Insert or Open.
A chart from Google Sheets stays tied to the spreadsheet it came from, which makes it the best way to show figures that change. The chart has to exist in the spreadsheet first — if you are new to spreadsheets, our guide to use Google Sheets covers making one — then go back to Slides, select the slide for the chart, and open Insert > Chart > From Sheets. Pick the spreadsheet, click the chart so it gets a blue frame, keep Link to spreadsheet ticked, and click Import. If you picked a spreadsheet with no chart, Slides shows a box saying "This spreadsheet has no charts" — you picked the wrong file, or the chart was never made. When the numbers in the spreadsheet change, click Update at the top right of the chart in Slides to bring the new figures onto the slide. Untick Link to spreadsheet only if you want a fixed copy that ignores later changes.
How to present on Google Slides
Select the slide to start from and click Slideshow at the top right. The slides fill the browser tab. One press of the Right arrow key shows the next slide, the Left arrow key goes back, and Esc ends the show. That is all presenting is — three keys.
Your speaker notes live in the field under each slide, "Click to add speaker notes." Notes do not appear on the slides your audience sees, so keep each one short enough to read at a glance. To keep your notes in view while you present, click the small arrow beside Slideshow and choose Presenter view, which starts the slideshow with your speaker notes and audience Q&A in a separate window. If that window never appears, turn off your browser's pop-up blocker for the site and try again.
Move the pointer to the lower left during the show, and a small bar appears with previous, the slide number, next, and three dots. The three dots open a menu with Open speaker notes (S), Turn on the laser pointer (L), Turn on the pen, Enter full screen, Exit slideshow (Esc), Auto-play, and Captions preferences. In a video call, share the slideshow window only, so your notes stay on your side — if the call is on Zoom, our guide to use Zoom covers sharing one window instead of your whole screen.
How to add a transition between slides
A transition is the effect between one slide and the next. Select the slide and open Slide > Transition, and a Motion panel opens at the right with None, Dissolve, Fade, Slide from right, Slide from left, Flip, Cube, and Gallery. Choose one — Fade is the safest first choice — and the panel shows a speed slider from Slow to Fast, an Apply to all slides button, an Object Animations part for single items on the slide, and Play for a preview. A small ring mark appears under the number of a slide in the filmstrip, so you can see which slides carry an effect.
One quiet transition used throughout reads better than a different effect on every slide. Apply to all slides sets it in one go, and then you never think about transitions again for that deck.
How to share a Google Slides presentation
Click Share at the top right. The box that opens carries the presentation's name, a field to add people, groups, spaces, and calendar events, and a General access part at the bottom with Copy link and Done. To share with one person, type their email address in the field, choose Viewer, Commenter, or Editor, and click Send. Each address gets an email unless you uncheck the box to notify people.
| Role | What they can do | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Viewer | Open and read the presentation | Your audience, your teacher, anyone who only needs to see it |
| Commenter | Everything a Viewer can do, plus leave comments | Reviewers who should suggest changes without touching the slides |
| Editor | Change the slides, add slides, and share it further | Teammates building the deck with you |
A viewer can open the presentation, a commenter can also leave comments, and only an editor can change the slides — so a Viewer can never accidentally rewrite your deck. The trap is the other setting in the same box. Under General access, the list holds two choices: Restricted, where only people with access can open with the link, and Anyone with the link, which lets anyone who has the link open the file. Keep Restricted for anything private, and switch to Anyone with the link only when you actually want the deck to travel — a class handout, a public talk, a portfolio piece. Anyone with the link means anyone: if the link is forwarded, pasted in a chat, or posted somewhere, the deck goes with it.
How to download, print or work offline
Your presentation lives in Google Drive, so a download is for when you need the file outside Slides, such as a PowerPoint or PDF copy for someone else. Open File > Download and choose a format: Microsoft PowerPoint (.pptx), ODP Document (.odp), PDF Document (.pdf), Plain Text (.txt), or a JPEG, PNG, or Scalable Vector Graphics image of the current slide. The copy downloads to your computer, and the presentation in Drive stays where it is. For paper, File > Print preview opens a preview whose layout list holds 1 slide without notes, 1 slide with notes, and Handout layouts — choose one and click Print in the preview's toolbar.
Working without internet takes setting up while you are still online. Use Chrome or Microsoft Edge outside private browsing, install and turn on the Google Docs Offline extension, and turn on Offline in Google Drive's settings. File > Make available offline, near the end of the File menu, keeps a particular presentation ready. With offline access turned on, changes save to your computer and reach Drive once you reconnect — but if you never set it up, Slides simply will not open without internet, so do this the day before a trip, not on the plane.
How to use Google Slides on your phone
The Google Slides app creates, edits, and presents the same files on a phone, and the Android and iPhone apps differ in a few places. On Android, open the Slides app and tap Create at the bottom right, then choose a template or a new presentation. Tap New slide at the bottom right and pick a layout, and use the Add button at the bottom for text, an image, a shape, or a line. For a theme or layout, double-tap a slide, then tap More and Change theme or Change layout. Slide backgrounds are changed on a computer, not in the Android app.
On iPhone, tap Create at the bottom right, choose a new presentation or a template, type a name for a new file, and tap Create. Add slides with New slide at the bottom right and content with the Add button. More > Change theme changes the theme. For a background, touch and hold the slide at the bottom, tap More > Change background, and pick one, or tap Apply to theme for every slide.
To present from a phone, tap Present, then Present on this device, and swipe left or right to change slides. On Android, tap the Back arrow to stop; on iPhone, double-tap the screen and tap Close. The Android app exports PPTX, PDF, TXT, and ODP files, while the iPhone app exports PDF or PPTX. Both apps can also present on a television over Google Cast, and the iPhone app over AirPlay. For a real talk, though, present from a computer — the phone is for last-minute edits and the emergency backup, not the main stage.
Google Slides vs PowerPoint: which one should you use?
The honest answer is that most people should use Slides for anything shared and PowerPoint for anything offline or heavily designed — and many people use both, moving a deck between them with File > Download. Slides is free and web-based; PowerPoint is the desktop standard. Here is how they actually differ.
| Google Slides | Microsoft PowerPoint | |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free with a Google account | Paid, as part of Microsoft 365 or a one-time purchase |
| Where it runs | In the browser, on any computer; apps on Android and iPhone | Desktop app on Windows and Mac, plus web and mobile versions |
| Saving | Automatic, to Google Drive; no Save button | You save the file yourself, to your computer or OneDrive |
| Working together | Several people editing the same deck live, with comments | Collaboration through OneDrive, and it works — Slides is simply built around it |
| Offline | Needs offline setup in advance (Chrome or Edge plus the Docs Offline extension) | Works offline by default — it is a desktop app |
| Design power | Good themes, charts, and transitions; enough for most decks | Deeper design tools, richer animations, and the template libraries professionals expect |
Never claim Slides replaces PowerPoint for offline work — it does not, unless you set up offline access first. And never let a deck's format decide the talk: a plain Slides deck with one clear point per slide beats a heavily animated PowerPoint that nobody can read from the back row.
7 beginner mistakes to avoid
- Hunting for a Save button. There is not one. "Saved to Drive" beside the file name is the whole saving system — check for it once, then trust it.
- Sharing with "Anyone with the link" by default. Leave General access on Restricted unless you actually want the deck to travel. A forwarded link forwards the deck.
- One slide, one paragraph. If the audience is reading, they are not listening. Move the paragraph to your speaker notes and keep one short point on the slide.
- A different transition on every slide. Pick one quiet transition and apply it to all slides. Variety in transitions reads as a mistake.
- Importing a chart from the wrong spreadsheet. A spreadsheet without a chart gives you nothing to import — make the chart in Sheets first, then use Insert > Chart > From Sheets.
- Presenting from the phone as the plan. The app is a backup and an editor, not a stage. Present from a computer, and keep the phone as the spare.
- Assuming offline just works. It does not until you set it up: Chrome or Edge, the Google Docs Offline extension, offline turned on in Drive settings, and File > Make available offline for that deck.
Sources
- Technobezz — "How to Use Google Slides to Make Your First Deck" — https://www.technobezz.com/how-to-use-google-slides
- Google Docs Editors Help — "How to use Google Slides" — https://support.google.com/docs/answer/2763168
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Google Slides free?
Yes. Google Slides comes free with a Google account — there is nothing to buy or install to make a deck. You need the account itself, and your decks save to the Google Drive that comes with it. If you want to use Slides with a work or school account, your administrator controls access, but the app is the same.
Does Google Slides save automatically?
Yes, while you are online. There is no Save button: "Saved to Drive" shows beside the name at the top, and "Saving..." appears while a change is being stored. Editing without internet needs offline access turned on first, in Chrome or Microsoft Edge with the Google Docs Offline extension.
Can I see my speaker notes while I present?
Yes. Click the arrow beside Slideshow and choose Presenter view, and your notes open in a separate window. In a slideshow that is already running, the three-dot menu at the lower left lists Open speaker notes, with S as its key. Your audience never sees the notes.
Can someone with Viewer access change my slides?
No. A viewer can open the presentation, a commenter can also comment, and only an editor can change it. Choose the role in the Share box when you add the person — and keep General access on Restricted for anything private.
Can I get back a slide I deleted?
Choose Edit > Undo straight away, or press Command + Z on a Mac or Ctrl + Z on Windows. Later on, the clock icon at the top right, or File > Version history > See version history, lists earlier versions. Pick an older one that still holds the slide and click Restore this version at the top, or use More > Make a copy beside it to keep your current file as it is. Both need edit access.