Google Slides

Install the selection engine.

Five minutes, once. It switches on the selection-aware shortcuts: make same size, swap objects, copy and paste position, and the rest.

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

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. Apps Script running as you is the only place Google exposes it. So the extension owns the keyboard, and this script owns the geometry.

Setup lives in the deck you add it to, so a new deck needs it again. We are publishing this to the Google Workspace Marketplace, which makes it one click and covers every deck automatically. Until that review clears, this is the way in.

Setup

Do this in a deck you actually work in. It stays there: close the tab, come back tomorrow, still works.

  1. Open your presentation and choose Extensions ▸ Apps Script. A code editor opens in a new tab.
  2. At the top left, click Untitled project and rename it to exactly SlideShortcuts. This matters: the project name becomes the menu label the extension looks for, so any other name silently breaks every shortcut below.
  3. Open Code.gs, select all, copy, and paste it over everything in the editor. Save with ⌘S or Ctrl+S.
  4. Go back to your presentation tab and reload the page.
  5. Open Extensions ▸ SlideShortcuts and click any item once. Google asks for permission: choose Allow.

That is it. The shortcuts below now work in this deck.

Open Code.gs

About that permission screen. Google will say the app is not verified, because this is a script in your own account rather than a published add-on. The only permission it asks for is access to the presentation it is running in. Not your Drive, not your other decks, not your email. Choose Advanced and then Go to SlideShortcuts to continue.

Optional: tighten the permission

By default Apps Script works out the permissions from the code, and asks for access to your presentations generally. You can narrow it to only the open deck:

  1. In the Apps Script editor, click the gear (Project Settings) and tick Show "appsscript.json" manifest file in editor.
  2. Back in the editor, open appsscript.json, paste this over it, and save.

That sets the scope to presentations.currentonly, the narrowest Google offers. If you have already granted permission, Google will ask again the next time you run a command.

What it switches on

CommandKeys
Make Same Sizeleader + S
Make Same Widthleader + W
Make Same Heightleader + H
Copy Positionleader + C
Paste Positionleader + V
Swap Objectsleader + O
Select Similarleader + E
Group Rowsleader + G
Group Columnsleader + U
Convert to Dotsleader + .
Split/Join Textboxesleader + J
Shape to Text Boxleader + X
Cycle Fillmenu / remappable
Cycle Accent Colormenu / remappable
Insert Yellow Stickyleader + Y
Insert Source Footerleader + R
Insert Legendleader + M
Toggle Draft Stampleader + K
Remove Speaker Notesleader + P

Mac uses ⌥9 as the leader; Windows uses Alt+9; ChromeOS uses Alt+0. Press the leader, release, then the letter. Every binding is editable on the extension’s options page.

If a shortcut does nothing

  1. Check the project is named exactly SlideShortcuts, with no trailing space.
  2. Reload the presentation tab. The menu only appears after a reload following the save.
  3. Open Extensions and confirm a SlideShortcuts submenu is there.

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