How to Use Google Slides to Create a Diagram

Shapes, arrows and lines

Every good diagram includes some basic shapes and connections, and Google Slides offers a ton of them. With these tools, you can create flow charts, Venn diagrams, and even some charts.

Because Google Slides allows you to group and ungroup elements on your slide, you can easily treat multiple elements as a single unit. This is especially useful when you need to move or resize parts of your diagram.

You can also click Order to change the layer of elements on the slide, bringing some elements to the front or moving them to the back, ensuring the diagram looks exactly how you want.

Integrated diagram template

Google Slides offers a number of solid diagram templates that you can use to get started quickly. These templates include pre-designed layouts for flowcharts, timelines, and process maps.

Click Insert > Diagrams > View all . Select the type of diagram you want, choose levels, dates, steps, or areas, and choose a color. Then, browse through the options and choose any template that looks like what you have in mind.

You can then modify the diagram to suit your needs.

Add-ons for extra power

While Google Slides' native features are quite comprehensive, you can take advantage of add-ons like Lucidchart to extend its functionality.

These add-ons integrate directly with Google Slides, allowing you to create more complex diagrams without leaving Slides. Click Extensions > Add-ons > Get add-ons  and you'll find a bunch of relevant options.

Some of these add-ons have free plans, with paid plans for even more features.

Custom colors and additional fonts

You can apply solid or gradient colors to your shapes, and you have full control over the fonts and text styles in your diagram. This means you can match the look and feel of your diagram to your project guidelines or branding without any advanced design skills.

For example, to ungroup elements in a diagram, select a line and click Format > Borders & Lines > Border color . Then, click the plus icon under Custom to enter the hex code of the color you want.

While you can't add custom fonts, you can still add additional fonts to Google Slides, so you have more font options than what's immediately accessible.

Gemini AI

If you're part of Google Workspace Labs, you'll have access to Gemini in Google Slides. Creating illustrations is one way to use Gemini AI in Slides.

This tool is not the best for creating charts and mind maps, but it is a pretty good tool for creating diagrams, as all you have to do is provide a detailed description of what you want.

You can use Gemini AI by launching the Ask Gemini bar, but you may also have more success with the Create an image bar . Just be aware that your diagram will look more like an image than a chart, and the text may be unreadable as the AI ​​has trouble writing text in images.

You can simply use Gemini AI to brainstorm ideas for your diagram, such as the best color combinations, shapes, and connections, to create what you have in mind.

Animations and transitions

If you're creating a step-by-step flowchart or want to show the progress of a process, Google Slides animations and transitions can be extremely useful. You can animate each shape or element in your flowchart to appear one by one so your audience can follow the process in a structured way.

On your computer, just select the element you want to animate and click Insert > Animation . You can choose to have them fly in, shrink, or any other option you like.

Google Slides may not be the first tool that comes to mind when you need to create a diagram, but it actually has a lot more capabilities than that. So the next time you think about creating a diagram, don't overlook Google Slides!

Lesley Montoya

Update 22 November 2024