Get Shift Done: Tips and Tricks

This Tool Makes Designing in Google Slides a No-Brainer

Creating interesting slides can be an art form, but many of us don’t have the time to finesse each slide. Lucky, Google Slides has a feature that can make things pretty with just a few clicks.

In Google Slides, Go to Slide > New Slide and input your text and photo. Then, take a look at the bottom right side of the screen. There’s a little star icon that will say Explore when you hover over it with your mouse.

The star icon is small, but powerful.

A click on the star icon will bring up pre-formatted design ideas for your slide. All you need to do is choose the design you like best, click on it, and the Explore option will design your slide for you.

The Explore option takes your slides from eww to exciting…as exciting as slides get, anyway.

Already have a bunch of slides that you consider hot messes? The Explore tool also works on older slides that you’ve already formatted. As long as they’re in Google Slide, you can save them from design purgatory.

Here’s an example. This is a slide where I just added my text, header and image. I haven’t formatted it at all.

Now, here are the results after I use the Explore tool.

Get stories like this one delivered to your in-box weekly: Subscribe to the GSD newsletter.

GSD: Tips and Tricks is brought to you by Xero, the cloud accounting software solution for your small business. With Xero, you can log in anytime, anywhere to get a real-time view of your cash flow and manage your books. Start your free 30-day trial today.