If you are using Google Slides to create a presentation with data from a Google Sheet, you may want to show that data as a linked table. If you create the table in Google Slides with no linking, it will not update if the data in the Google Sheet changes. Also, this is double work as the data is already in the Sheet, so re-typing it is a waste of time. Below are instructions on how to embed a live Google Sheet directly into your Google Slide. The table that is created will update with one-click and can be styled however you like. Live links to the Slide and Sheet shown in this tutorial are at the end of this article.
Delete the existing text box
Slides wants a blank area for the table. If you have a text box in your slide, delete it to make a nice, big open space.
Create the Sheet
You need a spreadsheet created in Google Sheets with the table of data that you want to display in your Google Slide. In your spreadsheet, highlight the range that you want, right-click, and select Copy.
Paste it into your Slide
Then, go to the location in your Google Slides where you would like the table to be inserted. Right-click with your mouse and choose Paste. After clikcing, a window will pop-up asking you if you want to Link to spreadsheet or Paste unlinked. Choose Link to spreadsheet and click Paste.
Oh yes, that’s a live, linked table that you’re seeing.
Working with your embedded table
Updating the embedded table
After linking the table, if you want to change the data within the table, you can go back to the Google Sheet to make the changes. When you come back to the Google Slide after making the changes, there will be a new option available to update the table when you right click on the table as shown in the picture below.
Adding rows
If you add rows to your table in Sheets, you may notice that the added rows don’t show up in the linked table in Slides. You will need to go back to the table in Slides after making the change, left click the more button (three vertical dots), and choose Change range.
Conclusion
Following the steps above should provide you with an easy way to insert a live, linked spreadsheet into your Google Slides. Enjoy!
Live Google Slide with an embedded Sheet
Live Google Sheet that is being embedded
Caroline Rice says:
Any idea why I do not get the “link to spreadsheet” option? I am in Chrome and selecting multiple cells but less than 20 rows like other common issues mentioned. I simply don’t get any option to link to a spreadsheet when pasting into google slides.
SheetsHelp says:
I don’t know, but did you look through the YouTube comments on the video on Youtube? There are some suggestions there as well. Here’s the link.
https://youtu.be/x2lBkAhmeEA
Caroline Rice says:
Thanks for the tip, I’ve tried everything listed in the comments and still no luck.
SheetsHelp says:
Did you try turning your computer off and on again? Just kidding! I’m flat out of ideas.
Alicia says:
Hi are you trying to paste a filtered view? I had the same problem but it was because of that. The link only pops up for raw data from the unfiltered view. Hope that helps.
Max says:
It turns out you have to delete the text box and paste into the empty space- THEN it offers you the choice of unlinked vs. linked.
I really wanted the students to be able to change numbers on the slide and have it run the calculation given by the google sheet, and that does NOT work.
Mr. Hekrdle says:
This will not work to show incoming comments from a form would it?
SheetsHelp says:
It should, but I haven’t tried it. I saw something recently that the refresh of these tables could become automatic in Google Docs and Slides too. However, you’d need to make sure you had the range correct. If you got enough responses from your form, they would run off of the area that you copy and pasted.
robinm says:
I have range of data that I have copied from Google Sheets and linked in Slides. When I click on “Update” it now shows my hidden rows. Is there anyway to prevent this from happening?
SheetsHelp says:
Not that I’m aware of.
Katie Mead says:
This is awesome and so helpful! Another question–is there a way to have the google slide automatically update without having to click “update”? I would like to have someone be able to EDIT the text in a spreadsheet, but I would only like them to be able to VIEW the slide. Thanks!
admin says:
I think there an update announced by Google automatic updating will be coming soon but I don’t remember the details. Lots of people have asked this.
Chris says:
Once I paste the spreadsheet is very large and I can resize the width but not the height. How can I adjust size to fit on the slide? Tried the Format options but it is locking the width/length aspect ratio not allowing me to reduce height without equal reduction to width.
Prolific Oaktree says:
Try modifying the size in shape in Sheets instead of Docs. I would think you could change the width and height independently in Sheets.
Dale Mather says:
I have linked a live Sheets range to my Slides but there are check boxes on the Sheets that I need but they do not display in Slides. Do you have any thoughts on how to correct that?
Prolific Oaktree says:
I’m not surprised they don’t come through right. They’re a relatively new addition to Sheets and the linking is a little basic. If they’re not going to change, you could use images of checkmarks and see if those come through. Kind of a hacky solution though.
Micah says:
Can you help me with this? When I embedded a chart from my sheet and updated it, it was resized. Any ideas?
Prolific Oaktree says:
Not really, it’s a finicky connection and lots of people have been experiencing unpredictable results.
DeAnna says:
Do you know if there is a way to link a Google slide to a Google sheet? The information is in a chart column and row format.
Prolific Oaktree says:
I don’t think so.
Andrew says:
Is there any way to carry over comments from a sheets cell to display in the linked table in slides?
Prolific Oaktree says:
Did you try it? I would be surprised if that worked. This functionality is pretty bare bones.