I love to use collaborative Google Slides. I am frequently asked about how to keep students from editing my slides in the template. While you can not restrict editing on Slides like you can a Google Sheets spreadsheet, there is a trick that will help keep the slide from being edited. (Note: This is different than editing the theme builder. That is also a great technique but different”ish” purpose)
Create the Slide
Create a Google Slides. Use slides.new or check out SlidesMania. Design the slide with the images and text that you wish.
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Download as PNG
With the slide selected, go to the File menu and choose “Download as” and choose “PNG image.” This will download the image of that slide to the computer.
Delete the Slide
Delete the slide. The current slide has the ability to move the text and images around. You want to replace this with immoveable elements.
Insert Blank Slide
From the layout options, insert a blank slide.
Set Background
From the toolbar, choose the “Background” button.
Choose the Image and upload the image of the slide you downloaded. This will set the slide content as the background image, which can not be easily manipulated by students.
Making customized login cards for my 3 buildings, is there a way to lockdown the background with my basic information (Name: Password) and then use a merge to pull in their personalized information from Sheets (similar to a Mail Merge)?
Slides does not have Google Apps Script capabilities. Why not use merged cells in a spreadsheet to essentially create slides 🙂
Brilliant! This is the best tip!!!
Thank you!!! You just saved my patootie a ton of work. I accidentally created in Slides when I meant to be working in PowerPoint. Just shows you how much Slides has evolved!!! 🙂
This has been so useful to me in creating a master research template that I’d like students to work on individually. Thank you!
Wondering about accessibility on this strategy… It would save me a ton of time, but I want alllllll my kiddos to get equal access. Is there efficient alt text for backgrounds? or would you make another copy for those who need it? would they then miss out on collaboration with the group?
I love that you said that. You are right, images locked down on the background would not work with a screen reader.
Have you noticed a change in clarity when doing this? My locked slide is usually less clear than the original. Wondering if that is normal.
It does degrade it a little
Can you not lock a whole slide deck of Google slides rather than one slide at a time?
HI Alice, Is there a way once students get a copy they can edit on Slides, can you lock them so students can’t delete them? Thanks for your help!