4 Key Google Slides Tips and Tricks to Know

Google Slides is arguably the leading free slideshow presentation app. Microsoft PowerPoint is more feature-rich, but the excessive cost of an Office 365 subscription means many people have converted to Google’s product. So, if Google Slides forms an important part of your daily workflow, keep reading. We’re going to introduce you to four quick tricks that’ll instantly turn you into a power user.

1. Zoom In and Out

If you like to create beautiful, artistic slides, you might need to focus on one part of a slide in more detail.

It’s easy to do. To zoom in, press Control + Shift + Plus. To zoom out, press Control + Shift + Minus.

2. Dictate Your Slides With Voice

Are you working on a long presentation? It’s no fun to spend all day typing. Why not try dictating your slides instead?

To dictate a slide, go to Tools > Voice type speaker notes. It will bring up a small microphone icon on your screen. Click on it and start talking.

3. Add Sound to Your Presentations

It’s relatively straightforward to add images and videos to one of your slides, but what about audio? There’s no “Insert” button for audio in the same way as there is for other media.

The solution? Just copy and paste the URL of a YouTube video, Spotify song, or other online audio track. The sound will start playing when the slide in question pops up.

4. Present via Chromecast

Who needs HDMI cables these days? As long as you take a Chromecast with you, you present directly from your computer to the screen without a cable in sight.

Go to Present > Present on another screen to get started.

If you’d like to learn more, we’ve got you covered. We’ve given you tips on how to use videos in the Google Slides app, explained how to auto-loop presentations, and a whole lot more.