Use a Template or change the theme, background, or layout in Google Slides

You can customize how your presentation looks in Google Slides. Start your presentation from a template or change the theme, background, or layout.

  • Theme: A preset group of colors, fonts, background, and layouts.
  • Background: The picture or color behind your slide's content.
  • Layout: The way your text and images are arranged on a slide.
  • Template: A pre-designed collection of slides with a combination of:
    • Themes
    • Layouts
    • Backgrounds
    • Fonts
    • Color schemes
    • Sample or placeholder content

Change theme

  1. On your computer, open a presentation in Google Slides.
  2. At the top, click Slide and then Change theme.
  3. On the right, click the theme you want.
Change the background color or image

Change background color

A background is the picture or color behind your slide's content. You can change the background color of one slide or all the slides in the presentation.

  1. On your computer, open a presentation in Google Slides.
  2. Choose a slide.
  3. At the top, click Slide and then Change background.
  4. To the right of "Color," click the box.
  5. Select a color.
    1. To add your own color, under "Custom," click Add New.
    2. You can select a hex code or manually adjust the color, hue, and transparency.
    3. Click OK.
  6. To add the color to:
    • One slide, click Done.
    • The entire presentation, click Add to theme.

Change background image

You can add an image from Google Drive or your computer to one slide or the whole presentation.

Important: Images must be a .gif, .jpg, or .png, and less than 50 MB.

  1. On your computer, open a presentation in Google Slides.
  2. Choose a slide.
  3. At the top, click Slide and then Change background.
  4. To the right of "Image," click Choose.
  5. Choose an image, then click Select.
    • To add the image to one slide, click Done.
    • To add the image to the whole presentation, click Add to theme.

Tip: You can also drag and drop an image in Google Slides. Hover near the edge of your presentation canvas to replace a background image in your presentation.

Import new theme

Important: Import a new theme for your background from:

  1. On your computer, open a presentation in Google Slides.
  2. At the top, click Slide and then Change theme.
  3. At the bottom right, click Import theme.
  4. Double-click the presentation you want to use.
  5. Click the theme you want.
  6. Click Import theme.
Edit your theme colors

You can change the individual colors that make up your presentation's theme.

  1. On your computer, open a presentation in Google Slides.
  2. At the top, click Slide and then Edit theme and then Colors Color.
  3. To the right, under "Theme colors," select the color you want to edit from the drop-down.
    • To use a pre-set color: Under "Default," click the color you want to use.
    • To customize a color: In the multi-colored square, click the color you want to use or enter a hex value. You can also change the transparency of each color.
Change layout

A layout is the way your text and images are arranged on a slide.

  1. On your computer, open a presentation in Google Slides.
  2. Select a slide.
  3. At the top, click Layout.
  4. Select the layout you want to use.
Create Slides from Template

A layout is the way your text and images are arranged on a slide.

  1. On your computer, open a presentation in Google Slides.
  2. At the toolbar, select File and then New and then From Template Gallery.
  3. On the right, click the theme you want.

Use Google slide templates

Important:

  • Google slide templates are currently only available in English (US) locale.
  • If you use a work or school account on Google Slides, you might only see organization branded slide templates.

  1. On your computer, open a presentation in Google Slides.
  2. To use templates, at the top left, click Templates .
  3. Click on the template you want to use.
  4. You can choose to insert:
    • An individual slide: Click on the slide.
    • All slides from the template: Click Insert all slides.

Need more help?

Try these next steps:

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