Slide operations

The Google Slides API lets you create, move, and delete slides. The examples on this page show some common slide operations using the presentations.batchUpdate method.

These examples use the following variables:

PRESENTATION_ID—Indicates where you provide the presentation ID. You can discover the value for this ID from the presentation URL.
PAGE_ID and PAGE_ID2—Indicates where you provide the page object IDs. You can retrieve the value for this from the URL or by using an API read request.

These examples are presented as HTTP requests to be language neutral. To learn how to implement a batch update in different languages using the Google API client libraries, see the following guides: Create a slide and Add shapes and text.

Copy a slide

The following presentations.batchUpdate code sample shows how to use the DuplicateObjectRequest method to copy of a slide and insert it after the original in the presentation. The original slide is specified by PAGE_ID.

The request lets you specify if some or all of the page element IDs should be in the copy (with some restrictions). In this example, the original slide contains a table element (specified by the TABLE_ELEMENT_ID), that's mapped to a new table (specified by the COPY_TABLE_ELEMENT_ID) in the slide copy (specified by the COPY_PAGE_ID). All other elements on the copy are given random IDs.

For more information about copying a PageElement, including text boxes, images, tables, basic shapes, lines, and embedded videos, see the sample Copy and edit an element.

The following is the request protocol to copy a slide:

POST https://slides.googleapis.com/v1/presentations/PRESENTATION_ID:batchUpdate

{
  "requests": [
    {
      "duplicateObject": {
        "objectId": PAGE_ID,
        "objectIds": {
          "PAGE_ID": "COPY_PAGE_ID",
          "TABLE_ELEMENT_ID": "COPY_TABLE_ELEMENT_ID"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Create a slide

The following presentations.batchUpdate code sample shows how to use the CreateSlideRequest method to create a slide and insert it as the fourth slide (using the zero-based insertionIndex) in the presentation.

The new slide is set to use the PredefinedLayout of TITLE_AND_TWO_COLUMNS. You can specify a string to use as the PAGE_ID for the slide (with some restrictions), or allow the API to generate the PAGE_ID by omitting the field in the request.

The following is the request protocol to create a slide:

POST https://slides.googleapis.com/v1/presentations/PRESENTATION_ID:batchUpdate

{
  "requests": [
    {
      "createSlide": {
        "objectId": "PAGE_ID",
        "insertionIndex": 3,
        "slideLayoutReference": {
          "predefinedLayout": "TITLE_AND_TWO_COLUMNS"
        }
      }
    }
  ]
}

Create a slide and modify placeholders

The following presentations.batchUpdate code sample shows how to use the CreateSlideRequest method to create a slide using the PredefinedLayout of TITLE_AND_TWO_COLUMNS.

You can specify a string to use as the PAGE_ID for the slide (with some restrictions). The placeholderIdMappings uses the Type of TITLE. The TITLE_ID references the slide's placeholder shape so it can be modified.

The following is the request protocol to create a slide and modify placeholders:

POST https://slides.googleapis.com/v1/presentations/PRESENTATION_ID:batchUpdate

{
  "requests": [
    {
      "createSlide": {
        "objectId": PAGE_ID,
        "slideLayoutReference": {
          "predefinedLayout": "TITLE_AND_TWO_COLUMNS"
        },
        "placeholderIdMappings": [
          {
            "layoutPlaceholder": {
              "type": "TITLE",
              "index": 0
            },
            "objectId": TITLE_ID,
           },
        ],
      }
    },
    {
      "insertText": {
        "objectId": TITLE_ID,
        "text": "This is my slide title",
      }
    },
  ]
}

Move slides to a new position

The following presentations.batchUpdate code sample shows how to use the UpdateSlidesPositionRequest method to take the two specified slides and move them to the beginning of the presentation, maintaining their relative ordering.

The specified slide IDs (PAGE_ID and PAGE_ID2) must be provided in the existing presentation order, without duplicates. The zero-based insertionIndex denotes where the slides should be inserted, based on the order before the move takes place. The value must be between zero and the number of slides in the presentation, inclusive.

The following is the request protocol to move slides to a new position:

POST https://slides.googleapis.com/v1/presentations/PRESENTATION_ID:batchUpdate

{
  "requests": [
    {
      "updateSlidesPosition": {
        "slideObjectIds": [
          PAGE_ID,
          PAGE_ID2
          ],
        "insertionIndex": 0
      }
    }
  ]
}

Set a slide background image

The following presentations.batchUpdate code sample shows how to use the UpdatePagePropertiesRequest method to set the background image of a slide specified by the PAGE_ID. The API retrieves the image using the IMAGE_URL.

A field mask is used to specify that only the slide background should be changed to preserve the other properties. Using field masks also improves performance.

Alternatively, an UpdatePagePropertiesRequest method can be used to set the background of a slide to a solid color.

The following is the request protocol to set a slide background image:

POST https://slides.googleapis.com/v1/presentations/PRESENTATION_ID:batchUpdate

{
  "requests": [
    {
      "updatePageProperties": {
        "objectId": PAGE_ID,
        "pageProperties": {
          "pageBackgroundFill": {
            "stretchedPictureFill": {
              "contentUrl": IMAGE_URL
            }
          }
        },
        "fields": "pageBackgroundFill"
      }
    }
  ]
}

Generate thumbnail

You can generate a thumbnail of the latest version of a specific page in the presentation by calling the presentations.pages.getThumbnail method, which returns a thumbnail image of the page as a content URL. The image URL has a default lifetime of 30 minutes.

You can also specify the mimeType and thumbnailSize returned using the ThumbnailProperties field as a query parameter.

The following is the request protocol to generate the page's thumbnail with the ThumbnailProperties set:

 GET https://slides.googleapis.com/v1/presentations/PRESENTATION_ID/pages/PAGE_ID/thumbnail?thumbnailProperties.mimeType=PNG&thumbnailProperties.thumbnailSize=MEDIUM

{
  "width": 800,
  "height": 450,
  "contentUrl": "CONTENT_URL"
}