Extend Google Slides with add-ons

  • Google Slides is a cloud-based presentation tool with real-time collaboration and robust features for creating custom presentations.

  • Slides add-ons enhance Google Slides by allowing users to build presentations, connect to external systems, and integrate with other Google Workspace apps.

  • Developers can utilize Apps Script and the Slides service to programmatically read, edit, format, and visualize Google Slides presentations.

  • Apps Script triggers can automate tasks within Google Slides by executing specific functions when predefined events occur, like opening a presentation.

  • Google provides comprehensive documentation and guides to support developers in building and extending Google Slides functionality with add-ons.

Google Slides is a cloud-based presentation solution with real-time collaboration and powerful tools that let you quickly build custom slide decks.

You can extend Slides with add-ons that help users construct new presentations, establish connectivity to third-party systems, and integrate your Slides data with other Google Workspace applications (like Google Sheets).

You can see the Slides add-ons others have built on the Google Workspace Marketplace.

What you can do

Here are a few things you can do with add-ons that extend Slides:

Slides add-ons are built using Apps Script. To learn more about how to access and manage Slides with Apps Script, see Extending Slides.

Presentation structure

A Slides presentation consists of pages, each of which has some number of elements such as text boxes and images.

The Apps Script Slides service provides several classes to represent organizational structures in Slides (such as Slide and Shape). You can use these classes to read and modify Slides data and behavior.

To learn more about how Slides presentations are organized, see Structure of a presentation.

Triggers

Apps Script triggers let a script project execute a specified function when certain conditions are met, such as when a presentation is opened or when an add-on is installed.

See add-on triggers for more information on what triggers can be used with Slides add-ons and what restrictions apply to their use.

Further reading

The following Apps Script guides are helpful when developing Slides add-ons: