Create and edit a presentation

Create a presentation in Slides, place text and images on its slides, and adjust everything from the properties panel on the right.

Create a new presentation

1. Open Slides.
2. Click New slide in the sidebar. A dialog opens.
3. Type a name for your presentation in the Slide name field.
4. Click Create. The presentation opens in Slides straight away.

You can also create a presentation while you already have one open. Click File in the toolbar and choose New slides.

The editor layout

The editor has three areas:

• Slide panel on the left: numbered thumbnails of every slide. Click a thumbnail to switch to that slide.
• Canvas in the center: the editing surface for the active slide, at 1920×1080 pixels, or 1920×1440 in a 4:3 presentation.
• Properties panel on the right: reflects whatever you have selected. With nothing selected it shows the slide background. With an object selected it shows that object's properties.

Add a text box

1. Click the Text tool in the toolbar, then click the canvas where you want the text. A text box appears and you can start typing.
2. While you type, a floating toolbar appears with Bold, Italic, Bullet list, Numbered list, Quote, and Link.
3. Click outside the text box to leave edit mode.

With a text box selected (but not in edit mode), the properties panel shows the full range of text options: Font, Size, Color, Bold, Italic, Underline, Strikethrough, Align, Vertical, Letter spacing, Line height, and Padding.

Add an image

1. Click Add image in the toolbar. A picker opens.
2. Either upload a file from your computer or pick an image already in Drive.
3. The image appears on the canvas. Drag it to position it, or resize it from the corner and edge handles.

You can also drag an image file from your computer and drop it directly onto the canvas.

Move, resize, and rotate objects

Click an object to select it. Handles appear at the edges and corners.

• Move: drag the object to a new position, or use the arrow keys to nudge it one pixel at a time.
• Resize: drag a corner or edge handle.
• Rotate: drag the rotation handle at the top of the selection.

To enter exact values, edit the X, Y, W, H, and rotation fields in the properties panel.

To select more than one object, hold Shift and click each one. With two or more objects selected the properties panel adds an Align section with alignment, distribution, and match-size tools.

Change the layer order

Right-click any object to open its context menu and point to Order. From there you can:

• Bring forward or Send backward to shift the object one step in the stack.
• Bring to front or Send to back to move it to the very top or bottom.

The properties panel also has an Arrange section with the same buttons, shown whenever you have a selection.

Change the slide background

With no object selected, the properties panel shows the background for the active slide. You can set a solid color, a gradient, or an image. Use the Apply to dropdown to choose This slide, This and following, or All slides, then click Apply.

Change the slide size

A presentation is Widescreen 16:9 or Standard 4:3, and all its slides share that size. A new presentation starts at 16:9, 13.33 inches wide, as in PowerPoint. A presentation converted from PowerPoint keeps the file's width, so its text sizes stay as they were.

1. Click File in the toolbar and choose Page setup….
2. Pick Widescreen 16:9 or Standard 4:3.
3. Click OK.

Everything on your slides keeps its position and size, and the slides keep their width. Going from 16:9 to 4:3 adds empty space at the bottom of each slide. Going from 4:3 to 16:9 makes each slide shorter, so anything near the bottom can fall outside the slide and is hidden. It isn't deleted: undo the change, or switch back to 4:3, and it shows again.

If you can only view the presentation, Page setup… shows its size without letting you change it.

Undo and redo

Press Cmd+Z (Mac) or Ctrl+Z (Windows) to undo the last change. Press Cmd+Y or Cmd+Shift+Z (Mac), or Ctrl+Y (Windows), to redo.

Rename your presentation

Click File in the toolbar and choose Rename. Type the new name and confirm.

Delete an object

Select an object and press Delete or Backspace. You can also right-click it and choose Delete from the context menu.