Thanks to Google’s scribble tool, your slides don’t have to be boring anymore. You can add a personal touch to your presentation by adding drawings on Google Slides. You can also use the drawing feature to annotate your slides for your presentations.
You can use the built-in scribble feature, or add-ons.
If you’ve found yourself wondering, “how do I draw on Google Slides?” then this article is for you. In this step-by-step guide, we will show you how to draw on Google Slides.
What is Scribble and Why Should You Use It?
Scribble is a Google Slides drawing tool that lets you create freehand drawings. You can think of the scribble tool as a combination of a freehand pen and a mouse drawing tool. It works by clicking and holding the cursor to start the drawing, then you drag the cursor to create your shape. Once you’re done, release the mouse to end the drawing.
The scribble tool is useful when you want to add a shape that is not in the preset shapes that are available in Google Slides. It is also well suited to adding annotations to the slides when doing your presentation.
How to Draw and Format Using Scribble
Much like the other tools in the Google suite, Google Slides also has an inbuilt drawing feature that you can use to draw in. However, unlike drawing in Google Docs and Google sheets, the drawing feature in Google Slides lets you draw directly into the slides.
Here’s how to insert a drawing in Google Slides:
- Go to Google Slides and open your presentation. If this is your first time using Google Slides, you may need to sign in with your Google account.
- In the toolbar, you’ll see a line icon, click on it.
- Choose Scribble.
- Go to Your slide and click where you want to start drawing. Hold down and drag the cursor to create the shape you want to draw.
- Release the cursor to finish your drawing.
How to Draw on Google Slides Using Google Drawings
You can also create your drawing in Google Drawings and then insert it into your slides. The layout for drawing is similar to the one in Google Slides, and you’ll find most of the tools that you need in the quick-access toolbar.
Here’s how to insert a drawing in Google Slides from the Google Drawing app:
- Go to Google Drawing
- In the toolbar, you’ll see a line icon, click on it.
- Choose Scribble.
- Go to Your slide and click where you want to start drawing. Hold down and drag the cursor to create the shape you want to draw.
- Release the cursor to finish your drawing. The lines will automatically smoothen out.
- Make sure to name your drawing so it’s easy to find when importing it into Google Slides. Your drawing will be automatically saved to your Google drive.
How to Insert Drawings from Google Drawing to Google Slides
There are two ways you can insert your drawing from Google Drawing into your slides:
- By downloading
- By publishing
Download the Drawing and Upload It to Google Slides
You can download your drawing from Google Drawing and import it into Google Slides as an image. To do this:
- Go to File.
- Click Download.
- Choose a format. You have four options: PDF, JPEG, PNG, and SVG
- Once the file is done downloading, go to Google Slides.
- Go to Insert > Image
- Choose Upload from computer.
- Find your image and select it.
Your image will be inserted into your slide. If you downloaded it in the jpeg format, the image will come with a white background like below.
If you downloaded it in png, it won’t have any background.
You can crop the image by double-clicking it and dragging the black lines
Publish and Link to the Drawing
The second way to insert the drawing into your slides is by using a URL. To do this:
- Go to File > Share
- Choose Publish to web
- Click Link and choose the size for your image in the image size drop-down.
- Click Publish and copy the link.
- Go back to your Google Slides.
- Go to Insert > Image.
- Click By URL.
- Paste the URL link using the keyboard shortcut CTRL + V.
- Click Insert Image.
How to Edit your Scribble Drawing
The drawing feature in Google also provides editing options for your drawing. You can change the color, line style, line thickness, and shape of the start and end of the line.
Line color: For changing the color of the line in the selected drawing.
Line weight: For changing the thickness of the line in the selected drawing.
Line dash: For changing the style of the dash in the selected drawing.
Line start and line end: For changing the shape at the beginning and end of the line. You can make them arrows, squares, or circular.
In our example drawing, we can change the color of the line to yellow by clicking the color icon.
We can also thicken the line using the line weight option and change the line dash to lines and dots.
Alternatives to Scribble
Although the scribble tool is pretty convenient, it may still not meet the needs of some users. An alternative to using scribble in Google Slides is to use a Chrome extension.
Using a Chrome Extension
A Chrome extension that you can use to draw in Google Slides is the Annotate Google Chrome extension. Here’s how to paint on Google Slides:
First, you’ll need to install the extension:
- Click the link for Annotate.
- Click Add to Chrome.
- Click Add app.
- Click on the extension and register.
The sign-in process may be a little long. You will be redirected to the Annotate website, where you’ll be asked to write one of your
Here’s how to use the extension:
- Go to your slides and click the Extension icon.
- Choose the Annotate extension.
- Enable the “Show toolbar” option and any other setting you want to use.
- A toolbar will appear on the screen with different drawing tools. You can choose the pen or highlight tool to draw with.
- Use the pen to draw on your slide by clicking and dragging it.
- You can save your annotation when you’re done.
The pen tool for Annotate is harder to use than scribble because it doesn’t automatically smoothen out your lines. However, it’s more versatile and the best for annotating.
Tips for Drawing in Google Slides
Some things to keep in mind to make your experience smooth are:
- To download your drawing without a background in Google Drawing, choose the png format.
- If your drawing isn’t complicated, you can use the Curve tool instead of the scribble tool since it is steadier.
Frequently Asked Questions
Where is the Drawing Tool in Google Slides?
You can the drawing tool in Google Slides on the quick access toolbar in the option for lines. You can also go to Insert > Line and choose Scribble.
How Can I Keep the Scribble Tool Selected?
Unfortunately, in Google Slides, you have to keep selecting the scribble tool after every line you create, which can be very frustrating. Just imagine having to go to Insert > line and then Scribble every time you finish drawing a line.
However, in Google Drawing, the scribble tool remains selected when your using it so that you can make multiple drawings without having to click on it after each line. If you’re having a hard time selecting the tool in Google Slides, we recommend you do your drawing in Google Drawing instead, and then importing it.
Can I Modify Scribble Live?
At the moment, it is not possible to make any modifications to scribble while you are doing a live presentation. You’ll have to exit the presentation, make your changes then restart the presentation again.
Can I Use Scribble for a Professional Presentation?
Scribble may look unprofessional when you start learning how to use it, however, you can learn to make it look professional with a bit of practice. The more you use it, the better you’ll get at it.
Wrapping Up
Being able to draw in Google Slides is useful for annotating and adding handwritten notes. In this article, we’ve guided you through 2 methods for how to draw on Google Slides.
If this article was useful to you, you could also check out our other articles, including our guide to how to insert Google sheets into Google Slides.
Related:
- How to Insert Google Sheets into Google Slides
- How to Make Google Slides Vertical
- How to Convery Microsoft PowerPoint to Google Slides
- How to Convert Google Slides to PowerPoint
- How To Do Hanging Indent on Google Slides
- How to Add a GIF to Google Slides (Easy 2 Minute Guide)
- How to Add Audio to Google Slides
