Google Slides

Install the selection engine.

About a minute, once. Then it works in every deck: make same size, swap objects, copy and paste position, and the rest of its 20 commands.

Install from Google Workspace Marketplace

You only need this for some shortcuts. Align, distribute, resize, order, group, insert, text and formatting all work from the extension alone. The add-on adds the ones that need to know what you have selected.

Install

  1. Click Install from Google Workspace Marketplace above, then Install, and pick the Google account you use for Slides.
  2. Google asks you to allow SlideShortcuts. It lists the presentation you run it in, plus your name and email address, which Google gives every Marketplace add-on. SlideShortcuts only ever uses the presentation: not your Drive, not your other decks, not your email.
  3. Google’s screen opens with the box unticked. Tick “View and manage the Google Slides presentations that this application is installed in”, then Continue. Unticked, the add-on installs but no command works.
  4. Reload any presentation that was already open. Extensions ▸ SlideShortcuts is now there, in every deck, and the shortcuts below work.

You can also install it from inside Slides: Extensions ▸ Add-ons ▸ Get add-ons, then search for SlideShortcuts.

Use it

Most add-on shortcuts are two steps: a leader key, then a letter.

  1. Select the shape or shapes. If a cursor is blinking inside a text box, press Esc first so the box itself is selected.
  2. Press the leader and let go: ⌥9 (Option and 9) on a Mac, Alt+9 on Windows, Alt+0 on a Chromebook. A hint bar opens at the bottom of the window, listing the letters.
  3. Press the letter within two seconds, for example S for Make Same Size. Esc cancels. Add-on commands take about a second, because Google runs them.

Try it: open any deck, press the leader, let go, then press Y. A yellow sticky note appears at the top right of the slide. If it does, everything is installed.

Why it is a separate step

Google Slides never tells a Chrome extension which shapes you have selected. It paints its canvas, so the selection never reaches the page, and the Slides API has no idea about the live editor selection either. A Google Workspace add-on running as you is the only place Google exposes it. So the extension owns the keyboard, and the add-on owns the geometry.

What it switches on

CommandKeys
Make Same Sizeleader then S
Make Same Widthleader then W
Make Same Heightleader then H
Copy Positionleader then C
Paste Positionleader then V
Paste SizeOn the menu: Extensions ▸ SlideShortcuts ▸ Paste Size
Swap Objectsleader then O
Select Similarleader then E
Group Rowsleader then G
Group Columnsleader then U
Convert to Dotsleader then .
Split/Join Textboxesleader then J
Shape to Text Boxleader then X
Cycle FillAlt+Shift+T (⌥⇧T on a Mac)
Cycle Accent ColorAlt+Shift+A (⌥⇧A on a Mac)
Insert Yellow Stickyleader then Y
Insert Source Footerleader then R
Insert Legendleader then M
Toggle Draft Stampleader then K
Remove Speaker Notesleader then P

The leader is ⌥9 on a Mac, Alt+9 on Windows and Alt+0 on a Chromebook. Every binding is editable on the extension’s options page.

If a shortcut does nothing

  1. No hint bar after the leader? The extension is not active in that tab. Reload it, and check your key on the extension’s options page (in Chrome, click the puzzle-piece Extensions icon next to the address bar, then SlideShortcuts).
  2. On a Mac, did ⌥9 type “ª”? A text cursor was active. Press Esc so the shape is selected, then try again.
  3. Reload the presentation tab. A deck that was open during the install shows the menu only after a reload.
  4. Open Extensions and confirm a SlideShortcuts submenu is there. If it is not, open Extensions ▸ Add-ons ▸ Manage add-ons and check SlideShortcuts is installed and switched on for this account.
  5. Signed in to more than one Google account? Install the add-on on the account that owns the Slides tab you are in.

Still stuck? Email support@slideshortcuts.com and we will get you going.

If your company blocks Marketplace installs

Some Google Workspace admins turn off add-on installs. Ask yours to allow SlideShortcuts from the Google Workspace Marketplace, and send them slideshortcuts.com/it: it says what the add-on can touch and how an admin installs it. We are happy to answer their questions too: support@slideshortcuts.com. The Chrome extension's own shortcuts keep working without the add-on.