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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
Setting up an automation project with Slideform is simple. Here's how it works:
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:
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
The many advantages of Slideform over Linked Objects are apparent in the configuration and scheduling features that Slideform offers.
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