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 Google 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 an add-on that extends Google Slides:
- You can read, edit, visualize, and format slides in Google Slides presentations using the built-in Apps Script Slides service.
- You can use the Apps Script advanced Slides service to access the Google Slides API directly.
- You can create custom menus and define multiple custom dialogs and sidebars interfaces using standard HTML and CSS.
- You can create add-ons triggers that run specified functions when certain triggering events occur.
Slides add-ons are built using Apps Script. To learn more about how to access and manage Google Slides with Apps Script, see Extending Google Slides.
Presentation structure
A Google Slides presentation consists of pages, each of which as 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 may be helpful when developing Slides add-ons:
- Extending Google Slides
- Structure of a presentation
- Sizing and positioning page elements
- Selecting items in a presentation
- Editing and styling text
- Lifecycle of an update