Coverting Indesign to Google Slides

[jennp64321587]

Hi! I have been running into issues lately where my clients want me to design presentations for delivery in Google Slides and/or PowerPoint. The pain point for me is how to convert the InDesign files that can still be edited in Google Slides and/or PowerPoint. I did discover it can be done for Powerpoint by saving it as a PDF first. But not sure yet about Google Slides.

Basically looking for the best way to take a presentation from Indesign to those programs where they can still be edited. What am I missing? There must be an easier way. Or an app I don't know about. Help!

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

If there is a reasonable path other than exporting to JPEG, I can't think of it. Update in ID, export new slide image. 

[Test Screen Name]

Those tools have none of the typographic control and most other layout features are either different or missing. So the idea of "take the layout and make it editable" in another tool is pretty much a dream. You probably want to use InDesign because you can get great visual results, better than those other tools - but that's to have you cake and eat it...! Learn the tools and redesign. You can copy/paste the text and replace the graphics. Complex graphic backgrounds can also be deployed as units without their text.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

That's really it. I was on a mobile device earlier and couldn't give an extended answer, but TSN has summed it up.

In my opinion, Powerpoint and its clones are absolutely the worst tools in the creative spectrum, at least, that are in wide user or definitive for their niche. Even Word has an advanced/pro layer of features and controls; PP is stuck at a finger-painting level for relatively unskilled administrative assistants. Every release adds more bells and whistles and shiny gimcrackery without adding a single really useful feature.. like, you know, styles.

And next to nothing imports to PP etc. with any degree of "live edit" or fancy-feature support. So you can use the primitive tools to build template-based, wibble-wobble, flash-bang-zoom presentations that will entrance everyone under 6 and bore everyone else (except the big bosses, who equate zoomy text and page curls and animation with "really getting the message across, go team!")... or you can use a real tool and export to JPEG as a 'background' that's actually the whole slide, using nothing of the actual PP app except (hopefully) subtle and graceful page transitions.

Or you can export to PDF and use its less sophisticated but not bare-bones presentation features. But Powerpoint it is for corporate America, so choose your path wisely. (My choice is usually to bow out and let the next unlucky consultant do it.)

[Eugene Tyson]

I have had a lot of success with plain copy and paste. 

[Laubender]

Hi @jennp64321587 ,

just one thing to add here:

If you need any transparency in the target app like PowerPoint use the PNG format for bitmap images.

Either export directly from InDesign to PNG with transparency enabled or export to PDF/X4 and render to PNG with PhotoShop.

Regards,
Uwe Laubender
( Adobe Community Expert )

[BobLevine]

I'm not going to get into a debate on the quality of the tools but my standard response is this:

If the client wants Powerpoint, design in Powerpoint. If they want Google Slides, then do it there. I've never used Google Slides so I can't really comment too much on that but Powerpoint has gotten a very bad rep mostly because the people using it don't know what they're doing.

I've seen plenty of crap out of InDesign, too.

[James Gifford—NitroPress]

Picasso could work in crayons. 

Whatever merits the actual presentation platform may have, PP's content and design tools are one step above toy printing blocks and ColorForms.