Teacher Tech blog with Alice Keeler

Paperless Is Not a Pedagogy

Alice Keeler

Google Slides: Right Click on the Filmstrip

right click on the filmstrip
Google Slides: Right Click on the Filmstrip

right click on the filmstrip

Right Click on Slides

When using Google Slides the tiny slide preview on the left-hand side is called the filmstrip. Clicking on any of the slides in the filmstrip takes you to that slide. However, you can also right-click on the slides to get some nifty options.
Right click on the film strip

Paste

You can copy slides from one presentation to another presentation (or within the same presentation.) Click on the slide where you want to insert the copied slides below. Choose paste from the right-click menu to paste in the entire slide. You can also use Control V to paste.

Duplicate Slide

I find it interesting that the right click menu does not show the keyboard shortcut for duplicate, Control D. You can use Control Do to duplicate the slide or right-click and choose “Duplicate slide.” This is particularly handy when creating an animation with Slides.

Skip Slide

Skip slide is a new feature to Google Slides. When presenting, if you have chosen “Skip slide” that slide will not be shown in presentation mode. You can always see it when viewing the edit view of slides. When selecting “Skip slide,” the slide is greyed out and a crossed out eyeball icon will show on the slide. This will not prevent you from editing the slide, it will simply skip that slide when presenting. To un-skip the slide, right click again and deselect “Skip slide.”
skip slide eyeball



Change Background

There are lots of ways to change the background of a particular slide, this might be one of the easier ways to do it. When changing the background by right-clicking on the slide itself you have to right click on the actual background. Sometimes textboxes and other objects get in the way making this difficult. By right clicking on the filmstrip, you can avoid having to find that one spot on the canvas that you can still see the background and try to right-click on it.

Apply Layout

Right-clicking on the filmstrip is probably also easier than applying a layout when editing the slide. The “Layout” button in the toolbar only shows up when nothing on the slide is selected. If I am editing a text box or have a shape selected the “Layout” button is not available, thus making it tricky. The layout option is always available when you right-click the filmstrip. I find I need to change the layout quite often. I add a new slide and it has the wrong placeholder texts. I probably wanted a blank layout but got a section header instead. Easy fix. Right-click on the filmstrip and select the layout you actually wanted.
Right click on filmstrip

Change Theme

Ha, it might be nice if “Change theme” was only available in the right-click on the filmstrip. This might discourage collaborators from accidentally changing the theme. Alas, this is not the case. There is still the “Theme” button in the toolbar.

Change Transition

If you want to apply animation from a particular slide to the next slide, choose “Change transition.” This will open a side panel of options.



Move Slide to Beginning

This is really useful if you have a lot of slides. I like to create a bunch of brainstorming slides at the end when I am putting together a presentation. When I have one I want to move up to the actual presentation, “Move slide to beginning” is really helpful. The converse it true, when I am unsure of a slide I will move it to the end to hang out until I decide if I want to include it or not.

Comment

To make a comment on a slide you have to select an object on the slide to comment on. While editing the slide you can not use the keyboard shortcut Control Alt M to leave a comment on the entire slide. UNLESS you right click on the filmstrip. Selecting the slide in the filmstrip allows you to insert that “post it note” comment onto the entire slide. Handy.

Save to Keep notepad

I love Google Keep. Google Slides integration with Google Keep is one of my favorite new features that Google has relatively recently rolled out. If you right-click on a slide in the filmstrip and choose “Save to Keep notepad, the pictures and text will be inserted into a Google Keep note.” Super nifty! I can then access that note on my phone from the Keep app or from the web at keep.google.com. And of course, Google Keep notes are shareable!
Save to Google Keep



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