techieMusings

Google Slides has recently come out with some exciting updates. You may have already read about my excitement about the Pear Deck Add-on! I wanted to share a couple other great updates in this post:

1. Add-ons for Google Slides

Add-ons are now available in Google Slides. Students might be interested in installing Unsplash, which provides high-resolution photos for free (free to use for commercial & personal uses). This is a great one to share with students as you talk about fair use images. Plus, with this Add-on, students can search for and add images without leaving their Google Slides presentation.

For teachers, if you haven’t already installed the Pear Deck Add-on, I recommend getting to that asap.

More on how to install & use Add-ons

2. Diagrams and Timelines

Google Slides has added the ability to insert a pre-formatted diagram to your presentation. Among the diagram types to choose from, you will find the option to insert a timeline, which may come in handy for projects!

3. Linked Slides

You can link and sync slides from multiple presentations with a click. This is useful if you are using a set of slides in multiple presentations. Instead of having to make a change to the copied slide in each of the presentations, you can “link” your slides to a single source.

More on how to use Linked Slides

4. Grid view of presentations

There is now a grid view option in Google slides.

5. Google Keep Integration

You can now drag-and-drop between Google Keep and Google Slides. When you add a note from Keep into your presentation, Slides will automatically add a title and description for you.

6. Skip a slide when presenting without deleting it

You now have the option to skip slides when presenting. So instead of needing to create multiple versions of a presentation, you can choose to skip over slides when presenting.

To skip a slide: On the left sidebar, right click the slide you want to skip and choose Skip slide. You’ll see a checkmark next to Skip slide. To re-enable that slide, simply right click on that slide again & click again to remove the checkmark.

Installing & Using the Unsplash Photos Add-On

1. To get a new Add-on, in the menu bar, click Add-ons and choose Get add-ons…
2. Find the Unsplash Photos Add-on and click the blue + Free button to add
3. Click Allow
4. Click the Add-ons menu > Unsplash Photos > Insert an Unsplash Photo

5. A right sidebar will open. Search for your image. 

• To insert: simply click the image and it will insert on your slide. You can resize and crop, as needed.
• To cite: hover over the image and click the hyperlink that pops up to view the original source.

Using Linked Slides

1. Copy a slide or set of slides in Presentation A to Presentation B

2. When you paste your slide(s) in Presentation B, you’ll see an option to Link slides. Click this option to link.

3. When you make changes, click the link icon at the top right of your slide and click Update.