They say that a ‘picture is worth a thousand words’. This holds particularly true if you need to present a series of events in a logical manner. For this purpose, take advantage of building a timeline with Google Slides.
In fact, building a chronology from scratch may be a pretty time-consuming task for a newbie. Moreover, even if you work hard on it, it’s still likely to look less polished than professional designs. That’s why it makes perfect sense to create your timeline using a Google Slides theme. This will save you time designing a custom timeline and provide a sound basis for your upcoming presentation.
Are you eager to present sequences of events like a pro with Google Slides? Then, check out today’s step-by-step guide.
Step #1: Get Hold of Your Template
You should start by finding a nice theme for Google Slides, the design of which matches your needs. Make sure that the theme you choose includes one or several chronology slides.
The good news is that you don’t have to look far to find such a theme. A rich collection of awesome themes for Google Slides is available in the TemplateMonster marketplace.
For example, the Varied template includes multiple designs for timelines and planning slides. Moreover, this presentation bundle offers you more than 200 awesome slides in total. With it, you’ll polish not only the chronology slide but other slides as well.
Once you’ve purchased the theme of your choice, download and unzip it on your PC. Inside, you’ll see the presentation folder. Upload this folder to your Google drive.
Step #2: Copy the Theme, Rename It
Your template is already on Google Drive. However, don’t edit it directly if you plan to use this template any time in the future. Instead, create a copy of it, from which you’ll work upon.
To make a copy of a presentation file, right-click on it and select ‘Make a Copy’.
Once you’ve done this, you’ll see the file named ‘Copy of [Your Template]’ next to your existing theme.
Now, right-click the new file and select ‘Rename’. Click the ‘OK’ button once you’re done entering the new presentation name.
Step #3: Get Rid of Extra Slides
Next, you’ve got to discard the slides other than the chronology slides that you’ll use. To do this, open up your presentation. You’ll find the slides list on the left.
To remove the unnecessary slides, you just have to select all of them using Shift + left mouse button click. Next, right-click the chosen slides and choose the ‘Delete Slides’ option. Now, your presentation contains only the timeline slide you’ll be working with.
Step #4: Add or Modify Text
So, now you can dive headfirst into editing your timeline. It’s pretty logical to start with the adjustment of text, as it’s pretty straightforward.
To modify a text string, select the words you want to replace with a mouse. Type in your custom text instead. You can remove the text when needed. To make a string of text larger or smaller, click one of the blue box holders and move it accordingly.
Step #5: Adjust Coloring
Fortunately, with Google Slides, you can easily re-color both text and graphics. Let’s see how you accomplish these pretty awesome adjustments.
To re-color a certain string of text, you’ve got to first select it with your mouse. Then, press ‘More’ on the top right and you’ll see the ‘A’ sign within the panel. This is the tool you need to recolor text.
After you click the ‘A’, you’ll see the color palette drop-down in front of you. Opt for the color you want to apply.
Now, let’s assume you want to change the color of a slide block. Click it and choose the ‘Fill Color’ sign on the top. Select and apply the needed color.
In our case, we see that the small arrow on top remained unaffected. No worries! It’s just a separate element that you also need to click and recolor.
Step #6: Replace Icons
There’s a chance you won’t be happy with the icons within the chronology slide of your template. That’s ok, you can customize them.
First of all, select the icon that you want to replace. Then, right-click on it and select the ‘Cut’ option. The unfitting icon is now gone.
It’s time to add your alternative icon. Most likely, you can find a set of icons within your template files. Copy the desired icon from the folder with icons and paste it directly to the necessary place within the slide. If you have a custom icon that you’d like to employ, you can insert it to your slide in a similar manner.
Step #7: Removing/Adding an Element
The number of timeline sections in the template may differ from the one desired by you. Let’s see how you can control the number of slide blocks without distorting the professional look of the chronology.
To remove the final timeline block perform the following:
- Delete the penultimate fragment of the chronology, its text and icon.
- Move the last fragment to the left to fill in the gap. Move the icon and text.
- Adjust the text and coloring of the last block to match the slide style.
To add a block to the timeline, perform the following:
- Select and move the existing chronology to the left/right.
- Copy one of the existing blocks to where you need the new block to reside.
- Adjust the coloring and content of the new block to match the formatting of your chronology.
Now Over To You
Today, we’ve taken you through the journey of customizing a template to jumpstart a delightful timeline. Now, you know how to work with the template files and modify the blocks, icons, colors, and text of your chronology.
Need some ultimate guidance on working with Google Slides? Learn how to craft a splendid presentation with this detailed tutorial.
Have you tried creating a timeline using a premium Google Slides theme? Share your experience in the Comments.
Stay tuned for more!
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