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How to Edit Text in Google Slides? [A Complete Tutorial!]

How to Edit Text in Google Slides? [A Complete Tutorial!]

When you are just starting off with Google Slides, it can be a bit confusing to edit the text. You may perhaps want to change the content, or even add some styles to your text in Google Slides. Knowing how to edit the text in Google Slides is really the first step in making great presentations!

In this article, we shall take a look at all the key things that you need to know when editing or formating text in Google Slides.

So, let’s get started!

1. How to Add Text in Google Slides? 

To add text in your Google Slides presentation, you have to insert a “Text box” in the slide. The whole process is described in easy steps below.

Step-1: Select the “Text box” icon

The first step of the process is to select the “Text box” icon in the editing tools bar, which is located right below the ribbon of your Google Slides presentation. The icon looks like the letter ‘T’ inside a square box.

Step-2: Drag and insert the “Text box”

Once you have selected the “Text box” icon, the mouse cursor will change into a cross, indicating that you can now add a “Text box”.

Hold the “Left mouse button” and drag the box to your preferred location in your preferred size, then let go of the mouse button.

Step-3: Add the text in the “Text box”

Once you let go of the mouse button, the “Text box” will be inserted into the slide. Now, simply type in the text in the “Text box” and the text will be added to the slide.

2. How to Select Text in Google Slides? 

To select the text inside a slide of your Google Slides presentation, follow the easy steps described below.

Step-1: Click on the “Text box”

The first step of the process is to click anywhere on the inside of the “Text box.” The blinking cursor will appear and the “Text box” will be highlighted with a blue border.

Step-2: Drag and select the text

Once the “Text box” has been selected, place the cursor at the beginning of the text that you’re trying to select.

After that, hold the “Left mouse button” and drag the cursor over the text that you want to select. Once you’re done, simply let go of the mouse button and the text will be highlighted in blue indicating that it has been selected.

3. How to Copy and Paste Text in Google Slides? 

To copy and paste texts in your Google Slides presentation, follow the 3 easy steps described below.

Step-1: “Right-click” on the text

The first step of the process is to select the text by following the instructions described earlier in this article and then “Right-click” on the selected text. This will open the drop-down menu.

Step-2: Click on the “Copy” option

After you have opened the drop-down menu, select the “Copy” option, which is the second option in the drop-down menu. This will copy the text and save it temporarily in your dashboard.

Step-3: Click on the “Paste” option

Once you have copied the text, go to the slide where you want to paste the text, “Right-click” on the inside of a “Text box” in the slide and click on the “Paste” option. This will paste the copied text which was temporarily saved in your dashboard.

3a. Shortcut for Copy and Paste in Google Slides

You can also use the keyboard shortcuts to copy and paste text in Google Slides.

If you are using Google Slides on a Windows computer, then you can use “Ctrl+C” for Copy, and “Ctrl+V” for Paste.

Likewise, when using Google Slides on the Mac OS, simply use the Cmd+C for Copy and Cmd+V for Paste.

4. How to Duplicate Text in Google Slides?

You can also use the “Duplicate” function in Google Slides.

To duplicate text in your Google Slides, first select the text that you want to create a copy for. Then, simply press the “Ctrl+D” keyboard key combination to duplicate the text on the slide.

The “Duplicate” text function will create a copy of the text or a text box. It works just like copy and paste. However, the advantage of the “Duplicate” function is that you don’t need to first copy and then paste. You can do both in just a single step.

4a. When to Use Duplicate Function

The downside of using the duplicate function is that it will create a copy of the original text only on the same slide. This means you can not use the “Duplicate” function when you want to create a copy of the text across slides!

Thus, it is best to use the duplicate function when you want to duplicate the text on the same slide. Furthermore, use the copy and paste function when you want to duplicate the text across slides.

5. How to Move Text in Google Slides?

You can also move the text in Google Slides if you want to re-arrange the order in which the content is appearing.

To move text in your Google Slides presentation, select the text that you want to move and then follow the simple steps described below.

Step-1: Hold the “Left mouse button”

After you select the text and let go of the “Left mouse button” as described earlier in this article, press, and hold the “Left mouse button” again.

Step-2: Drag and move the text

While holding the “Left mouse button”, drag and position the cursor to your preferred location in the “Text box”. A grey cursor will indicate the position where the text will be moved. Once the cursor is placed in your preferred location, simply let go of the “Left mouse button” and the text will be moved to that location immediately.

6. How to Format Text in Google Slides?

To format text in your Google Slides presentation, at first, you have to select the text that you want to format and then “Right-click” on it. This will open the drop-down menu.

From the drop-down menu, select the “Format options” button. It is the second to last option in the drop-down menu. Through the “Format options” tool, you can edit the size, color, position, and even add a shadow or reflection, to the selected texts.

I’ve written an entire article on how to add text effects in Google Slides that provides several ways in which you can format the text in Google Slides. Make sure you check out that article to learn more!

7. How to Add Hyperlink to Text in Google Slides?

You can also add a hyperlink to the text in the Google Slides presentation so that when you click on the text, it leads to the source page. There are actually multiple different ways you can do this.

The easiest method is to select the text and press the “Ctrl+K” shortcut keys on your keyboard. Then, simply add the URL to add the hyperlink.

For a full guide with visual references on adding a hyperlink, and tips on how to add a link to another slide within a Google Slides presentation, check out my other article on how to add a hyperlink in the Google Slides

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Credit to master1305 (on Freepik) for the featured image of this article (further edited)