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How to Change Background in Google Slides? [Quick Guide!]

How to Change Background in Google Slides? [Quick Guide!]

When working on a Google Slides presentation, there are times when you don’t want to use the standard white background. Perhaps you may want to break the monotony, or maybe you want your presentation to stand out. Whatever the case may be, to do that you need to know how to change the background in Google Slides!

To change the background of a slide in Google Slides, first, select the slide and right-click on it. From the options that appear, click on the “Change Background” option. A new window will pop up. Here, you can change the color or add an image as the background of a slide.

In this article, we shall take a detailed look at the process of changing the background of a slide in Google Slides. Plus, I’ll also share with you three different but easy methods to add an image as a background to your Slides!

So, let’s get started!

1. How to Change Background Color of Slide in Google Slides? 

The process of changing the background color of your Google Slides presentation is described in easy steps below.

Step-1: Select the “Change Background” option

To begin, “Right-click” on the slide that you want to change the background color of and select the “Change Background” option from the menu that will appear on your screen.

Step-2: Click on the “Color” option

Once you have selected the “Change Background” option from the menu, a pop-up window will appear at the center of your screen. Click on the box with a white circle on it, which is the “Color” option.

This will give you more color options to choose from.

Step-3: Select your preferred color

Google Slides will provide you with several different colors options from which you can choose the one you like.

Simply click on your preferred color as a background for the slide and the color of the background of that slide will change accordingly.

2. How to Change Background of Multiple Slides in Google Slides? 

To change the background of Multiple slides in your Google Slides presentation, you have to select the slides together. The whole process is described in the easy steps below.

Step-1: Select the multiple slides

The first step of the process is to select multiple slides simultaneously.

To do this, all you have to do is to hold the “Ctrl” key on your keyboard and click on the slides that you want to change the background color of.

Once you press the “Ctrl” key and select the slides individually, you will notice that the selected slides are highlighted with a yellow border around them. This will mean that the slides are selected.

Step-2: Select the “Change Background” option

Once the slides are selected, simply right-click on any one of the selected slides. This will open a menu. From the menu, simply choose the “Change Background” option.

This will open a pop-up window.

Step-3: Choose a Background Color for the Slides

Now the process becomes identical to the process explained in the previous section of this article.

Click on the “Color” option. A dropdown menu with an array of colors will appear. Just choose a color that you like.

After you have selected the color, the background of the slides will change accordingly.

3. How to Add Image as Background in Google Slides? 

There are two ways in which you can add an image and change the background in Google Slides.

You can either insert the image directly from the “Change Background” option in the drop-down menu of the slide. Alternatively, you can use the “Slide Master” view to add an image in the background of the layout the slide is using.

Both of the methods are explained in the following section.

Method 1 – Using the Slide Master 

Using the “Slide Master” to add an image to your slide works great when you want to add an image to every slide in one go!

You can add an image as a background in your Google Slides presentation by using the “Slide Master” view. This will add the image in the layout of the slide and can be reused by adding a new slide with that layout.

The whole process is explained step-by-step manner below.

Step-1: Go to the “Slide Master” view

The first step of adding an image as the background of a slide in your Google Slides presentation is to select the “Theme Builder” option from the “View” tab.

Step-2: Select the “Change background” option

After you have selected the “Theme Builder” option, the view of your Google Slides presentation will switch to the “Slide Master” view.

From the slide navigation bar of the “Slide Master” view, find the layout that the slide is using and “Right Click” on it. This will open a drop-down menu. From the drop-down menu, select the “Change Background” option.

Step-3: Select the “Choose Image” option

After you select the “Change Background” option, a pop-up window will appear on your screen. From the pop-up window, select the “Choose Image” option.

Step-4: Click on the “Browse” option

By clicking on the “Choose Image” option, another pop-up window will appear on your screen. Select the blue “Browse” option. This will open a new pop-up window on your screen.

Step-5: Select the image

In this step, all you have to do is to select the image that you want to add as a background on the slide and select the “Open” button at the bottom right of the pop-up window.

Step-6: Select the “Done” button

In the final step, all you have to do is select the orange “Done” button at the bottom right corner of the pop-up window.

Now you can exit the “Theme Builder”, and when you choose this layout, you will have an image in the background of the slide.

If you ever want to delete this image, go back to the theme builder, locate the specific layout containing the image on the slide, select the image and simply delete it.

Method 2 – Directly as the Slide Background 

If you don’t want to mess with the slide layouts, another method to add an image to the slide is by simply adding it directly to the slide as a background. Here’s how you can do it –

Step-1: Open the “Change Background” options

The first step is to simply select the slide and right-click on it. From the options that appear, choose the “Change Background” option.

Step-2: Click on the “Choose an Image” option

Now, as we did before in the article, click on the “Choose Image” option.

Step-3: Click on the “Browse” option

When you click on the “Choose Image” option, a new window will pop up.

Make sure that you are on the “Upload” tab on the top. Then, click on the “Browse” button in blue in the middle of the screen.

Step-4: Choose and Upload the Image

Navigate to the respective folder where you have saved the picture on your computer. Then, click on the image file to select it and click on the “Open” button.

This will begin the process of adding the image as the background of your slide.

Step-5: Click on “Done”

The last step is to click on the “Done” button.

This will add the image to your slide background of a single slide.

Method 3 – Insert an Image to the Slide

Another way you can add an image to the background of your slide is to insert an image to the slide instead of adding it to the slide background.

This might sound a bit confusing at first, but there is a slight difference. Adding an image to the slide allows you to format the image. Whereas, when an image is added directly to the slide background, you can’t make any changes to it.

Here’s what you need to do –

Step-1: Choose the “Insert Image” option

Click on the “Insert” tab. From the dropdown menu that appears, click on the “Image” option. Then, select the “Upload from computer” if you have the image saved on your computer.

Step-2: Upload the Image to the Slide

Next, navigate to the folder that contains the image. Click on the image to select it, and then click on “Open“.

Step-3: Make the Image fit the Slide

Once the image has been added to your Google Slides presentation, now you need to make it fit full screen.

To do that, hold the “Shift” key on your keyboard and drag the image from one corner until it becomes at least as large as the slide. If the image is going beyond the slide, feel free to use the crop function.

Step-4: Send the Image to Back

Now, once the image has been made to fit the slide, the next thing that you need to do is send the image to the back so that you can access the text and other elements present on the slide.

To do that, simply right-click on the image. Then, from the options, click on “Order“, and choose the “Send to back” option.

This will immediately make the image layer the base layer and send it to the back, and turn the image as the background of the slide.

4. How to Add Moving Images as Background in Google Slides?

You can also add moving images as background in Google Slides. You can do so by using the GIF files that allow animation in images.

Here’s how to add moving images as background in Google Slides –

Step-1: Insert a GIF File from the Web

The first step is to insert a GIF file in your Google Slides presentation.

If you already have a GIF file on your computer, you can browse to the specific folder of your computer and insert it to the slide.

Alternatively, you can search a GIF file and insert it directly from the web.

Click on the “Insert” tab. Then, click on the “Image” option and from the next menu, select the “Search the web” option.

Step-2: Search and Insert a GIF File

Now, you will see a window pane on the right part of the screen.

Search for a GIF file on the web. Look for an image that you like and click on it to select it. Once you click on the image, you will see an option to insert it on the slide.

Click on the “Insert” option to add the image to the slide.

Step-3: Stretch the GIF file to Fit the Slide

Some images may not match the size of your slide in Google Slides. So, you may need to adjust the size of the image.

To do that, press the “Shift” key on your keyboard and drag the image from any one corner such that the image is larger than the size of the file.

Then, use the crop function by right-clicking on the image, and selecting “Crop“. Make the image fit the slide by adjusting the crop handles.

Step-4: Send the Image to Back

The last step is to send the image to the back of the slide. To do that, simply right-click on the image. From the menu that opens up, click on “Order“, and then click on the “Send to Back” option.

This will add an animated picture to the background of your slide in Google Slides.

5. How to Change Background Image Transparency in Google Slides?

If you want to adjust the transparency of the image to be used in the background, you will need to insert the image on the slide and then put it in the background instead of directly adding the image as the slide background (as described in method 3 above).

To change the Background image transparency, you have to “Right-click” on the image, select the “Format options” in the drop-down menu and change the transparency level from the “Adjustment” tool in the “Format option” sidebar that will appear on the right of your screen.

Check out my other article where I describe the process on how to change the transparency of background images in Google Slides! Click on the link to read that article.

6. How to Remove Image from Background in Google Slides?

To remove an image from the background in Google Slides, simply select the slide and right-click on it. Then, select the “Change Background” option. Next, click on the “Color” option and select the “White Color” from the dropdown.

The process is shown below in a step-by-step method –

Step-1: Open the “Change Background” settings

Select the slide from which you want to remove the background image. Right-click on it and click on the “Change Background” option.

Step-2: Click the “Reset” option

A new window will pop-up.

In this window, click on the “Reset to theme” option. This will remove the image from the background of the slide.

7. How to Change Background Image of Slide in Google Slides?

Changing the background image of slides in your Google Slides presentation is identical to adding an image as the background of a slide.

To change the background image of the slides, simply follow the steps describing how to add an image as the background of a slide, earlier in this article. 

8. How to Change Background Color of Text Box in Google Slides?

The process of changing the background color of text boxes in your Google Slides presentation is explained in easy steps below.

Step-1: Select the text box

The first step to changing the background color of a text box in your Google Slides presentation is to click on the text box.

After you click anywhere in the text box, the border of the text box will become blue. This means the text box has been selected.

Step-2: Click on the “Fill Color” button

After you have selected the text box, click on the “Fill color” tool located in the editing toolbar under the ribbon of your Google Slides presentation. The icon of the “Fill Color” tool is of a reclined bucket of paint.

Step-3: Select your preferred color

After you have selected the “Fill Color” tool, a drop-down menu will appear on your screen.

In this final step, simply select the color you prefer as a background color for the text box and the background color of the text box will change accordingly.

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  2. How to Edit Text in Google Slides? [A Complete Tutorial!]
  3. How to Hyperlink in Google Slides? A Step-by-Step Process!
  4. How to Make a Copy of Google Slides? [Here’s an Easy Method!]
  5. Google Slides Add-Ons: A Helpful Guide! [with Top 5 Add-ons!]

Credit to diana.grytsku (on Freepik) for the featured image of this article (further edited).