Google has recently included many new features in Google Drive which has opened up many new possibilities unavailable to us before. The most interesting feature is Google Presentation and its ability to publish to the web. Using this new feature you can now easily upload your own PowerPoint into Google Presentation or directly edit and create content online. Today we will begin by showing you how to setup your presentation to start pulling slides from directly from Google Presentation.
Initial Setup Instructions
Select "Drive" from www.google.com
To begin you will need to go to www.google.com and select Drive from the list of options on top. If you signed up for your Google account a long time ago and have not upgraded yet yours may still say "Documents" instead. If you haven't upgraded already after you select documents it will prompt you to upgrade to Google Drive. You can also get there directly by going to http://drive.google.com
Create new Google Presentation
Next you will want to create a new Google Presentation by clicking on the red "Create Button" located on the left hand side of the page and then select "Presentation" from the drop down menu.
Choose template style
Google presentation already comes with several built in presentation templates which you can choose from. After you make your choice just hit OK. If you do not want to use any template styles just hit cancel or hit the X in the top right hand corner.
Click "Untitled Presentation" to change file name
Rename Google Presentation
Now you will want to click "Untitled Document" in the top left hand corner and in the next dialog box give the presentation a name of your choice. After you are done you will hit OK to save the new changes.
Next you will need to find out how large you need to make your Google Presentation so that it will fit properly into your place holder. To do that you will need to go to your presentation in the online management system.
Placeholder Properties
Once you get into Design View right click on the placeholder that you wish to add this Google Presentation and select properties.
Placeholder Size
Here make a note of the current width and height settings for your placeholder.
Publish to the Web
Next you will need to return back to your Google Presentation and in the "File" drop down menu, select the option "Publish to the Web."
Start Publishing
Click "Start Publishing" to make this Google Presentation available on the web. You will then be prompted to see if you are sure if you would like to publish this document. Hit "OK" to publish.
"Publish to Web" dialog box
Enable Slideshow Options
First you need to locate the option "Start slideshow as soon as the player loads" and "Restart slideshow after the last slide" near the bottom of the dialog box.
Now that you are done creating your file, all you need to do now is upload it to your FTP or any other online storage location. Locate the URL for your file, so for example if you used the Entech FTP it would look something like www.entechsigns.com/rvauser/username/mainpresentation.html
Next adjust how quickly you would like your presentation to play by selecting the desired time duration from the drop down menu. Typically I find that five to ten seconds is usually enough, however you will need to adjust the time depending on what kind of material are in your slides.
Now before we get any further you will need to understand that Google Presentations come with an embedded control bar at the bottom which allows you to play, pause, go to next slide ect.
Google Presentation Control Bar at the bottom of a presentation
In order to give your presentation a more professional look we will hide this control bar. In order to do this we will make this presentation a little taller then the placeholder we have. So for instance I have a place holder that is 800x600. So for my Google Presentation I want it to be slightly taller in height to hide the bar so I will add 20 pixels (the height of the control bar) to the bottom. This gives me a presentation with the size of 800x620. Since the placeholder is only 600 high it will cut off the extra 20 pixels from the bottom of the Google Presentation in effect getting rid of the control bar.
Copy Embed code
Next select the code located under "Embed Code" and then right click and copy.
Paste code into Notepad
Next you will want to start the program Notepad by going to the Start Menu and then Accessories. Paste the code into Notepad and then look for the width and height options. Change your height and width to match the correct size we identified earlier. In this case I have changed the my values to 800 and 620. Remember to add the additional 20 pixels to the bottom if you wish to remove the control bar.
Select "Save As" from File
Change "Save as Type" to All Files and add .html to your filename
Next you will want to go to file and select Save As. In the dialog box you will want to first change your "Save As Type" as All files (*.*) You will then give your file a name and then add the extension .html to the end. So for our example we called the file mainpresentation.html
Return to your presentation in the online management system and go into design view. Click on the place holder and select properties. Then select gadget and from the list select the URL gadget near the bottom of the list.
Insert URL and adjust refresh rate
After adding your gadget you will want to insert the address for your html file in the gadget setting. I would recommend adjusting the "Data Refresh Interval" to about around 5 minutes or more depending on how often you would like your PowerPoint to update. After you are done saving your settings you are now ready to start using Google Presentation with your account!
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