What is Google Slides? A complete guide to features, pricing, and use cases

Google Slides is Google's cloud-based presentation tool, built for teams and individuals who need to create, edit, and present decks together in real time from any browser. It's used by everyone from students and small businesses to sales teams and marketers who need a fast, collaborative way to build a presentation without installed software. This guide covers what Google Slides is, how it works, what it costs, and how it compares to Microsoft PowerPoint.

If you're already using Google Slides and want to do more with it, we'll also show you how IFTTT connects Slides to the rest of your workflow, whether that's building a deck automatically from a spreadsheet, keeping your team updated when a new presentation goes live, or logging every deck you create.

IFTTT is an automation platform that connects over 1000 apps and services. Instead of manually building decks from scratch every time or checking in on new presentations, you build the connection once and it runs on its own.

What is Google Slides?

Google Slides is a free, cloud-based presentation tool that's part of Google Workspace. It lets users create, edit, and present slide decks entirely in the browser, with changes saved automatically and multiple people able to edit the same presentation at once.

Because it lives in Google Drive alongside Docs and Sheets, Slides is a natural fit for anyone already working inside Google's ecosystem. It's a popular choice for students, small businesses, and teams who want a no-cost, no-install way to collaborate on a presentation without emailing files back and forth.

What is Google Slides used for?

Building and editing presentations is the core use case. Users create slides with text, images, charts, and video, either from scratch or using one of Google's built-in templates.

Real-time collaboration lets multiple people edit the same presentation simultaneously, with comments, suggestions, and version history built in. Useful for teams building a pitch deck or report together without passing a file back and forth.

Presenting live or remotely happens directly from the browser, including a presenter view with speaker notes and the ability to present over a Google Meet call for remote audiences.

Templates and themes speed up deck creation, whether from Google's own template gallery or third-party template libraries designed specifically for Slides.

Add-ons and extensions extend Slides' functionality, from advanced diagramming tools to design libraries like Canva's, without leaving the Slides interface.

Exporting and sharing lets users export a presentation as a PowerPoint file, PDF, or image set, or share a live link for others to view or comment on without downloading anything.

How does Google Slides work?

Google Slides is built around presentations, slides, and sharing permissions.

Presentations are the individual decks a user creates, stored automatically in Google Drive. Every change saves in real time, and a full version history lets users revert to an earlier draft.

Slides are the individual pages within a presentation, each built from layouts, text boxes, images, and other elements arranged on a canvas.

Sharing permissions control who can view, comment on, or edit a presentation, set per file or per folder, and shareable via a link or direct invite.

Templates provide a starting layout and design theme that can be duplicated and customized, saving time compared to building a deck from a blank canvas.

Add-ons are third-party extensions installed from the Google Workspace Marketplace that add functionality Slides doesn't include natively, like advanced charting or stock photo libraries.

Is Google Slides free? What does Google Slides cost?

Google Slides is free to use with any personal Google account, with no limit on the number of presentations you can create.

For businesses, Slides comes bundled into Google Workspace, which adds custom email, expanded storage, and admin controls.

Enterprise pricing is custom. Check workspace.google.com/pricing for current rates.

Slides itself doesn't have a separate price tag from the rest of Google Workspace, so the cost of using it for business really depends on which Workspace tier your organization already needs for email and storage.

Google Slides vs. Microsoft PowerPoint

PowerPoint is the comparison every Slides user eventually runs into, since the two cover nearly identical ground for building and presenting slide decks.

Google Slides is the stronger pick for teams that live in a browser and want frictionless real-time collaboration without worrying about file versions. PowerPoint is the better choice for users who need advanced design effects, animations, or reliable offline access on desktop.

What are Google Slides's limitations?

Design flexibility is more limited than PowerPoint or dedicated design tools like Canva. Slides covers the basics well, but advanced animations, transitions, and design effects are thinner than what desktop-first tools offer.

Offline access requires setup ahead of time through Chrome's offline mode, and even then some features behave differently without a connection.

The native template library is smaller than PowerPoint's or third-party marketplaces built specifically for presentation design.

Large presentations with heavy media, embedded video, high-resolution images, complex charts, can slow down in the browser compared to a desktop application handling the same file locally.

Slides does not include built-in quizzes, polling, or advanced audience interaction features.

Because Slides is cloud-based by default, teams with strict data residency or offline-first requirements may need to evaluate Google Workspace's broader compliance options before standardizing on it.

How IFTTT works with Google Slides

Google Slides tracks every presentation you create. IFTTT connects that activity to the rest of your workflow, building decks automatically from your data, keeping your team updated when a new presentation goes live, and logging or backing up every deck without manual steps.

IFTTT's Google Slides integration includes 7 triggers, queries, and actions, including a trigger like new presentation and actions like create presentation and replace text in presentation.

Create presentations automatically from your data

Turn a new row in a spreadsheet or an upcoming calendar event into a finished presentation without opening Slides. Useful for teams that build recurring decks, weekly reports, event recaps, from data that already lives somewhere else.

Keep your team updated on new decks

The moment a new presentation is created, IFTTT can post a summary to Slack or Microsoft Teams. Useful for teams who want visibility into new decks without checking a shared Drive folder throughout the day.

Log and back up your presentations

Every new presentation can be logged to a spreadsheet or backed up to a second storage location automatically. Useful for teams that need a running record of every deck created, or want a backup outside their primary Drive folder.

Popular Google Slides service pairs

Google Slides works alongside a wide range of tools that teams already use to build and share presentations. Here are some of the most popular service combinations on IFTTT:

Google Sheets to Google Slides

Turn spreadsheet data into a finished presentation automatically. Useful for teams that build recurring reports or decks from data that's already tracked in a spreadsheet.

• - Create a new Google Slides presentation from a Google Sheets row
• - Log every new Google Slides presentation back to a spreadsheet
• - Keep a running record of decks without manual tracking

Set up Google Sheets → Google Slides

Slack to Google Slides

Keep your team looped in on new presentations without leaving Slack. Useful for teams who want visibility into new decks without checking a shared Drive folder.

• - Post a daily summary of new Google Slides presentations to Slack
• - Get notified the moment a new presentation is created
• - Keep the whole team aware of new decks in real time

Set up Slack → Google Slides

Microsoft Teams to Google Slides

For teams standardized on Microsoft Teams for communication but using Slides for presentations, keep both in sync. Useful for mixed-tool organizations who don't want to abandon Slides just because their chat tool is Microsoft's.

• - Post a summary to Microsoft Teams when a new Google Slides presentation is created
• - Bridge teams using different core tools without extra manual steps
• - Keep cross-functional teams updated regardless of which chat tool they use

Set up Microsoft Teams → Google Slides

Google Calendar to Google Slides

Turn upcoming events into a starting presentation automatically. Useful for teams that build a recap or briefing deck for every meeting or event on their calendar.

• - Create a Google Slides presentation from a new Google Calendar event
• - Automatically add a calendar event when a new presentation is created
• - Skip manually starting a new deck for every recurring meeting

Set up Google Calendar → Google Slides

How to automate Google Slides with IFTTT

Getting started with Google Slides automation on IFTTT takes a few minutes. Here's how it works:

1. Connect your Google account: Go to ifttt.com/google_slides and click "Sign in with Google." Authorize IFTTT to access your Google Slides and Drive.

2. Choose a trigger or action: The "New presentation" trigger fires whenever you create a new Google Slides presentation. Actions let you create a presentation, append a slide, replace text across a presentation, or add an image to a new slide.

3. Set up your Applet: Browse the existing Google Slides Applets on IFTTT or build your own from scratch. Select your trigger, connect any additional service like Google Sheets, Slack, or Microsoft Teams, customize the details, and turn it on.

8 more ways to automate your presentations

If you're already connecting Google Slides with IFTTT, these Applets extend automation across the rest of your workflow, from sharing new decks in Discord and Slack to logging details in Google Sheets and even syncing with YouTube.

Services similar to Google Slides

Google Slides isn't the only presentation tool you can connect with IFTTT. If your team builds decks somewhere else, these services work too.

Google Slides and IFTTT: better together

Google Slides makes it easy to build and collaborate on a presentation in the browser. IFTTT makes sure those decks don't require manual building from scratch every time, generating presentations from your data and keeping your team in the loop the moment a new one goes live.

Ready to connect Google Slides to your workflow? Get started on IFTTT today, no code required.

Frequently asked questions about Google Slides

Can I use Google Slides offline?

Yes, but it requires setup ahead of time. You need to enable offline access in Google Drive settings and the Chrome browser while you still have an internet connection.

Can Google Slides open PowerPoint files?

Yes. Google Slides can open, edit, and export files in PowerPoint's .pptx format, though some advanced PowerPoint animations and effects may not translate perfectly.

Does Google Slides have an API?

Yes. The Google Slides API lets developers programmatically create, edit, and read presentations, which is part of what makes automations like IFTTT's possible.

How many people can edit a Google Slides presentation at once?

Google Slides supports real-time collaboration from multiple editors simultaneously, with each person's cursor and edits visible as they happen.

Is there a limit to how many slides a presentation can have?

There's no fixed slide count limit, but very large presentations with heavy media can slow down performance in the browser.

Explore more IFTTT blogs

Looking for more ways to work smarter? These blogs cover everything from calendar automations to the Applets our own team swears by.

• What your desk setup says about your productivity style
• 6 calendar automations your week needs
• We tested these 24 Applets so you don't have to
• What your coffee order says about your workflow
• Six ways to automate these annoying tasks