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How to Make a Copy of Google Slides? [An EASY Tutorial!]

How to Make a Copy of Google Slides? [An EASY Tutorial!]

When you share your Google Slides presentations with others, the changes that they make will most likely become visible on the main presentation. One way to avoid this problem is to make a copy of the Google Slides presentation before making any changes! But you may be wondering, how exactly does one make a copy of Google Slides?

Here’s how to make a copy of a Google Slides presentation –

  1. Click on the “File” menu.
  2. Select “Make a copy” from the dropdown.
  3. Then, click on “Entire Presentation”
  4. Finally, click “OK” in the pop-up window that opens up.

In this article, we will cover this topic in great detail. I will share with you two different methods along with the detailed steps of making a copy of Google Slides. Furthermore, I will also show you how you can force others to make a copy before they start editing a Google Slides presentation!

So, let’s get started!

1. How to Make a Copy of a Google Slides Presentation? 

Basically, there are two ways in which you can make a copy of your Google Slides presentation.

The first method is to use the “File” menu option while the other method is to use the Google Drive Folder. Both of the methods are explained in the following section.

Method 1 – Using the File Menu Option 

This method is the easiest as you can make a copy of your Google Slides presentation directly from the presentation file when it is open!

To make a copy of your Google Slides presentation using the “File” Menu option follow the simple steps explained below.

Step-1: Click on the “File” menu option

The first step of the process is to click on the “File” tab, which will open a drop-down menu.

From the dropdown menu, select the “Make a copy” option which will open yet another drop-down menu. Now select the “Entire presentation” option.

Step-2: Hit the “Ok” button

After you click on the “Entire presentation” option, a pop-up window will appear on your screen. Simply click on the “OK” button and a copy of your presentation will be saved on your Google Drive

Method 2 – Using the Google Drive Folder

This method is much like the traditional way you would copy and paste a file on your computer. Basically, in this method, you have to navigate to the folder where your file is saved and then make a copy.

To make a copy of your Google Slides presentation, all you have to do is simply “Right-Click”  on the slide that you want to make a copy of and then select the “Make a copy” option from the drop-down menu. A copy of your Google Slides presentation will be saved on your Google Drive immediately.

2. How to Make a Copy of Selected Slides? 

In case you don’t want to copy the complete presentation, you can also make a copy of a selected set of slides and open them as a separate presentation file.

To make a copy of selected slides in your Google Slides presentation, at first select the slides that you want to make a copy of and then follow the simple steps explained below.

Step-1: Click on the “File” tab

After you have selected the slides, you want to make a copy of, click on the “File” tab which will open a drop-down menu.

Step-2: Select the “Selected slides” option

Next, select the “Selected slides” option from the drop-down menu as shown in the image in the previous step.

Step-3: Hit the “OK” button

After you have selected the “Selected slides” option, a pop-up window will appear on your screen.

Here, you can rename the presentation. This is completely optional. Next, click on the “OK” button located at the bottom right corner and a copy of the selected slides will be saved on your Google Drive.

3. How to Force Users to Make a Copy of Google Slides? 

Now, what if you are sharing a template of a presentation with multiple users and you want to prevent people from making changes to your master file in Google Slides? Well, the easiest way to do this is to force the user to make a copy of when you share the link of the file!

To force users to make a copy of your Google Slides presentation, edit the URL of your Google Slides presentation. Highlight everything after the last “/” in the URL of your browser, and instead write “copy”. Now, share the edited link with others. This will force a copy of your presentation.

The complete process is described step-by-step manner below –

Step-1: Remove the last part of the URL

The first step of the process is to select the last part of the URL which will have the word “Edit” on it. This will be after the final “/” used in the URL.

Simply locate and select that part of the URL, and delete it.

Step-2: Write “Copy” in the last part of the URL

In the second step, after you have removed the “Edit” part of the URL, write “Copy” in its place. Now when you share this link with anybody, they will be forced to make a copy of your Google Slides presentation to view it.

Here’s what the end-user will see on their screen once you have shared the link with them.

Remember – for this method to work, you have to make sure that you have given permission to access the Google Slides presentation.

4. How to Make a Copy of Google Slides in Presentation Mode? 

You can also make a copy of your Google Slides presentation to directly open in the “Presentation Mode” when you share it with your audience! This is really helpful because sometimes you don’t want the audience to access the content of the slides, but you also don’t want to share a PDF either in order to retain the animations.

To make a copy of a Google Slides presentation to directly open in the present mode, edit the URL. Highlight everything after the last “/” in the URL of your browser, and instead write “present”. Now, share the edited link with others. This will open your presentation in the present mode by default.

Here are the details of the steps that you need to follow –

Step-1: Remove the “Edit” part from the URL

The first step of making a copy of your Google Slides in presentation mode is to remove the last part of the URL of your Google Slides presentation which has the word “Edit” on it.

Step-2: Type in the word “Present”

After you have removed the “Edit” part of the URL, simply type in “Present” in its place. Now when your share your Google Slides presentation with this link, users will be taken directly to the presentation view.

Before sharing this link with others, make sure you have given permission to access the Google Slides presentation.

5. How to Copy a Presentation to Another Account? 

To copy a presentation to another account, you have to share the presentation to the other account using their email address. The whole process is described in 2 easy steps below.

Step-1: Click on the “Share” button

The first step of the process is to click on the “Share” button which is located at the top right corner of your Google Slides window. It is an orange button with the icon of a person with a linked chain under them.

Step-2: Type in the Email Address of the recipient

After you have selected the “Share” button, a pop-up window will appear on your screen.

Now, type in the email address of the account that you want to copy your Google Slides presentation to, in the recipient box. Also, make sure that you have provided the “Editor” access. Otherwise, you won’t be able to edit this presentation file using the other email account.

Lastly, simply click on the blue “Send” button at the bottom right corner of the pop-up window and the presentation will be copied to the Google Drive of the recipient account.

6. How to Remove Speaker Notes While Making a Copy of Google Slides?

To remove speaker notes while making a copy of your Google Slides presentation, follow the simple steps described below.

Step-1: Click on the “File” Tab

The first step of the process is to click on the “File” tab on the ribbon of your Google Slides presentation. This will open a drop-down menu.

Step-2: Select the “Entire presentation” option

Click on the “Entire presentation” option which is located in the “Make a copy” option. This will open a pop-up window (as shown in the image in the previous step).

Step-3: Tick mark the “Remove all speaker notes” option

Once you have selected the “Entire presentation” option and the pop-up window appears on your screen, checkmark on the “Remove all speaker notes” option. This will allow you to make a copy of your Google Slides presentation without including the speaker notes.

Step-4: Click on the “OK” button

The final step of the process is to click on the “OK” button. This will create a copy of your Google Slides presentation while removing all the content from the notes.

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