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How to Connect Google Sheets to Slides without Linked Objects

Are you looking for a simple way to embed data from Google Sheets into Google Slides or Docs? If you find yourself repeatedly copying data from sheets into your slide deck, you may want to try Google's Linked Objects functionality.
 
However, linked objects have some important limitations that can limit their usefulness in an operational setting. Linked objects are especially hard to use if you have multiple copies of the same report layout, such as for different clients or filter values. In addition, you cannot link text or numbers into a text box in the slides. To overcome these limitations, you should consider Slideform, a solution that is designed to automate routine reporting tasks to pull data into your reports whenever you need it.
 

Slideform is the powerful, no-code solution to link Google Sheets to Slides and Docs to automatically generate presentations & reports on demand, on a schedule, or in batches.

 

 

How to Use Linked Objects to Update Slides from Google Sheets

It it simple to use Google's Linked Objects functionality to link and update charts and tables from Google Sheets to Google Slides or Docs. Just copy the chart or cell range from your spreadsheet and paste it into the slide. You'll see a dialog like this.

Screenshot 2024-12-20 at 3.25.10 PM

If you want to be able to refresh the chart or data table when the data in Sheets changes, choose "Link to Spreadsheet". 

Later when you want to update the data, open the Slides presentation, go to Tools on the main menu and click Linked Objects. From there you can see each of the linked objects in the presentation and update them individually or all at once with the Screenshot 2024-12-22 at 8.11.19 PM-1 refresh button.

Using linked objects can be a helpful little hack if you want to keep a presentation updated from a Google Sheet, however, it does have some limitations that we will discuss below.

 

What are the Limitations of Linked Objects in Google Slides?

Linked Objects can be very useful for simple linking from Sheets to Slides and Docs. However, there are some important limitations that you need to be aware of before relying on linked objects in an operational setting.

  • You can't link text or numeric values

    Linked objects only apply to charts and tables, not text or numbers from individual spreadsheet cells.

  • There is no auto-update

    To update linked objects, you must open the Slides file and click Update. 

  • Updates overwrite the Slides

    When linked objects are updated, the updates will override any changes that you made in the file. If you want to keep a copy of the previous version, be sure to make a copy before updating.

  • Making copies of the Slides is not simple

    If you copy the slide deck, you can't easily change the sheet that the linked objects point to. You have to delete each linked object and re-insert it.

  • Linked objects are hard to use for multiple clients or filters

    If you have multiple clients or versions of a report, you must have a separate Slides file for each of them and update them individually. If you make style changes to the Slides, you must make the changes separately in each client report.

 

Fully Automate Google Slides from Sheets with Slideform

To overcome the limitations of Linked Objects, you should consider Slideform, a powerful, no-code solution to generate presentations & reports. Slideform intelligently connects data from Sheets and other data sources into Slides, PowerPoint, Docs, and other formats so you can create and update reports on demand, on a schedule, or in batches.

  • Link text or numbers from an individual cell 

    With Slideform you can embed text or numbers from an individual spreadsheet cell into a text box on your slides. Simply create a placeholder for the text and set the font, size, and formatting.

  • Auto-update the report on a schedule

    To update your report with Slideform, you don't need to open the slide deck. Just click Generate, or you can set an update schedule and get an email when the new report is ready.

  • Choose whether to overwrite or generate a new deck

    In Slideform, you can choose whether to generate a new Google Slides deck or Google Doc each time you run the report. This ensures that you have a record of past reports to refer back to. Or you can overwrite or append new slides to the same deck. This option allows you to have a persistent URL for the deck that you can share with recipients.

  • Easily make copies of a master report

    Copy a template and change client name and data source in one simple step.

  • Slideform automates reporting at scale

    Centrally manage your report templates and use the same template across all clients seamlessly. Use lookups to select the client, date range, or campaign, then run the report. Set a schedule and have all the reports update automatically. Or generate a batch of reports at once.

Slideform is designed with agencies and client-facing teams in mind, so you can create and manage QBRs and reports at scale across clients, campaigns, and filters.

 

How to Embed Any Content from Google Sheets into Slides

Setting up an automation project with Slideform is simple. Here's how it works:

 

1. Create a template for your Google Slides deck

Just take a previous version of the report and add placeholders for any content that will be filled in from Google Sheets. Here's an example slide:

Screenshot 2025-01-09 at 1.45.49 PM
Notice the curly braces around some of the words. The curly braces {{ and }} tell us that those elements are placeholders, called “pragmas”, and they will be replaced in the final version of the presentation. Some built-in functions in Slideform, such as the date and page number can be used as well.

To embed text and numbers, type the placeholder into the slide in a normal text box. The font, size, color, and layout will be preserved in the output.

For charts, data tables, and images, create a shape on the slide to show where the image will be placed, and enter the placeholder text into the shape. Begin the placeholder text with "image:", "chart:", or "data:" to indicate what type of content will be filled in.

To connect the template to Slideform, just authorize your Google account and select the slide deck in the New Project wizard.

 

2. Connect a Google Sheet 

Slideform integrates with your Google workspace and many other sources. You may already have a Google Sheet with data that you need to enter into your presentation. In this example, the Google Sheet has information about each account:

Screenshot 2025-01-09 at 1.42.23 PM

Text, numbers, and dates from each spreadsheet cell can be pulled into the Google Slides as text. Images can also be pulled in from the sheet. For more on images in Slideform, see the Help Center. You can also pull in data tables and charts from Google Sheets. Even timeline charts (Gantt charts), pivot tables, and worksheet screenshots can be imported!

Connect the Google Sheet to Slideform as a new data source.

 

3. Match data to the template in Slideform

The last step is to identify what data will fill each placeholder in the template. Fill in the Configure Data page in Slideform. For each placeholder, select the data source (which Google sheet file and worksheet).

For numbers and text you can either set a specific cell to pull the data from, such as "D26" or you can use lookups to select the row and column. Either way, your slides will be filled in and formatted beautifully each time you generate the presentation. 

data_mapping_example

Slideform captures all the charts in the spreadsheet, and you can select the specific chart that you want to fill a chart placeholder. 

Data tables can be pulled in from a range of cells, such as "A1:D10". Slideform can even trim off empty cells from the bottom of the cell range.


4. Generate the presentation

Now that my project is set up, I can generate the presentation whenever I need to by clicking Generate. All the formatting, fonts, text, and sizing is taken care of and I just get a clean, professional, and accurate presentation very quickly. And I can download it as a pdf, PowerPoint, or save it to any Google Drive location. The report is fully editable so that I can add any last-minute comments or takeaways. 

Recommendations from Slideform Power Users

The many advantages of Slideform over Linked Objects are apparent in the configuration and scheduling features that Slideform offers. 

  • Schedule updates. Enjoy the convenience of having the finished deck sent to your Google Drive each day, week, month, or on a custom schedule.
  • Overwrite or append slides or generate a new deck each time. Slideform has lots of options to configure the output in Google Slides.
  • Clone a project for a new client. With Slideform, you can share a template among multiple clients so that any styling changes are immediately applied to all reports. Or you can swap out the data for different clients using filters and lookups.

  • Select the Google Sheet dynamically based on client name. Connect a Google Drive folder containing multiple data sources and use a variable to select the data for each presentation. Read more here: Dynamically select a Google Sheet data source


 

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