Google Slides is one of the best tools for creating presentations. It’s impressively easy to use and equips various customization options. However, it lacks some features compared to popular counterparts such as Microsoft PowerPoint. One such feature is the ability to insert PDF files into your slides.
Fortunately, there are some easy ways to get around this limitation and include PDFs in your presentation. Here are a few workarounds for inserting a PDF into Google Slides:
One way to add PDFs to a Google Slides presentation is to insert the PDF as a link. In this case, the PDF won’t appear as a part of the presentation itself, but visitors to your presentation can click the link and be taken directly to the PDF. You can use this method to share the PDF as a reference or as extra reading material.
To add a PDF as a link to your Google Slides presentation, follow these steps:
1. Open Google Drive and upload the PDF you wish to include in your presentation. Click New > File Upload and then select the file from your PC.
2. Once uploaded, right-click the file in Drive and choose Share, then Copy link. In older menus like the screenshot, this may appear as Get link.
3. In the sharing window, check who can open the PDF, then press Copy link. You can give specific people Viewer access or choose Anyone with the link if the document may be public. Work or school accounts may restrict that option.
4. Open your Google Slides presentation, and click Insert > Link.
5. Select the text or object that should open the PDF, choose Insert > Link, paste the copied URL and click Apply. If you need a visible label, type the PDF name first and link that text.
That’s it! Your PDF will now be linked to your presentation. People viewing the presentation can follow the link to the PDF in Drive only if its sharing permissions allow them to open it.
Insert PDF Into Google Slides as a PPTX File
Another way to show PDF pages in Google Slides is to convert the PDF to PPTX, then import the converted slides. Some content may be editable, but conversion quality and text editing depend on the PDF and converter. This method is useful when you want to add one or multiple pages of the PDF file to your presentation to showcase certain information or elements.
To convert and insert a PDF as an editable PPTX, follow these steps:
1. Convert the PDF to PPTX with a tool such as Smallpdf PDF to PPT converter. Upload the PDF, choose the available conversion option, then download the PPTX. Smallpdf lists direct text editing as a Pro option. Check the output before importing it, and use a tool approved by your organization for confidential PDFs.
2. Open your Google Slides presentation. In Google Slides, choose File > Import slides; the import window can take a presentation from Drive or upload the converted PPTX from your computer. The older screenshot shows an Open > Upload route.
3. Select the converted PPTX in the import window. If you uploaded it through File > Open as shown above, return to your original presentation and choose File > Import slides to select it.
4. Select the converted slides you want in the original presentation. For every converted page, choose Select all slides, then press Import slides. Review the imported layout and text before presenting.
The converted PDF pages are now slides in your presentation. They are no longer a live link to the original PDF, so replace them if the source document changes.
Insert PDF Into Google Slides as an Image
Another option is to drop the PDF in as an image. It comes in handy when you only need to display certain parts of the document rather than the whole thing. Since each page becomes a static picture, the text won’t be selectable, so it works best for short excerpts or visuals. Here is how to do it.
1. First, convert the PDF to an image. You can do this using the same file conversion service mentioned above – Smallpdf PDF to Image converter. You can also make use of a PDF reader application available on your PC.
2. Once the file is converted, save it to your computer. If the file is saved as ZIP, extract the image first.
3. Open the Google Slides presentation and choose Insert > Image > Upload from computer. The screenshot shows the older menu styling; the Upload from computer option is still available.
4. Choose the preferred image and click Open.
5. Once uploaded, the image will be added to your slides. You can then resize or reposition it as needed to match the slide’s style.
And that does it. Your PDF page now sits in your Google Slides presentation as an image. Repeat the same steps for every additional page you want to bring in from the PDF.
Conclusion
As you can see, adding a PDF to Google Slides is pretty straightforward. You can add the PDF as a link, display converted pages as images or import converted PPTX slides. Check link permissions and converted page layouts. All of these methods are simple and effective, so choose the one that works best for you!
