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How to Record a Video Presentation With Google Slides

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Google Slides now lets you record a presentation with inset video from your webcam. Each recording may be a maximum of 30 minutes long. No longer do you need to turn to a third-party tool or web meeting app, such as Google Meet , to record a presentation. Instead, you can start and finish the task with nothing more than Google Slides on a laptop.

As of March 2024, slide recordings may be made by customers who use Google Workspace Business Standard or Plus; Enterprise Starter, Essentials, Essentials Plus, Standard or Plus; and Education Plus editions.

How to make a basic slide recording in Google Slides

To create a slide recording, you’ll need to use Google Chrome on a computer that has a camera and microphone.

• Go to Google Slides and open your presentation.
• Select the Rec button in the upper right area, then select the Record new video button ( Figure A ).

The system will switch to the screen recording interface, with recording controls displayed below your slides. By default, the system will display your inset (picture-in-picture) video in medium size in the lower right corner of a slide, since this portion of a slide is often empty.

• Optionally, before you start recording, you might adjust three settings:

• Modify the size of the inset video frame. Select the size icon, found to the right of the video inset location icon, then choose either a small, medium or large video frame size.
• Open speaker notes with the button found to the immediate left of the back slide (<) icon. This will display speaker notes for your reference while recording. (Ideally, you would not need to refer to speaker notes, so that you could instead look directly at the camera as you record.)
• When you are ready to record, select the large red button at the bottom of the screen.
• If prompted, you may need to allow access ( Figure C ) to the tab, along with the camera and microphone. For example, when recording on a Chromebook, you may be prompted to “Allow docs.google.com to see this tab?” and “Also allow tab audio.” Select Allow, if prompted.

In a few cases, you may need to visit the following links in Chrome to adjust permissions for:

• Camera: chrome://settings/content/camera.
• Microphone: chrome://settings/content/microphone.
• A brief countdown should display (i.e., 3, 2, 1), then your recording will begin. Record your video, advancing your slides as desired.
• To pause recording, press the large red button at the bottom of the screen.
• Once paused, you may select from two options ( Figure D ):

After you select Save to Drive, wait a bit until the system indicates the file has been saved. If you leave or close the tab too soon, you may lose your recording.

How to select inset video shapes and sizes

On any slide, you may use the Insert | Speaker spotlight option ( Figure E ), then select a shaped video frame. This inserts a frame where the speaker video will display on that slide. You may reposition or resize the frame: Select the shape, and then drag-and-drop it to move it to a different place on your slide, or select a corner and drag it to resize it.

When you insert a speaker spotlight shape, that supplants the position and size you might have selected on a basic recording. In other words, the speaker’s video will display in one of the corners or the center, and in the small, medium or large shape chosen with the settings — unless you’ve inserted a speaker spotlight shape on a page ( Figure F ). Use the speaker spotlight option to convey the most polished professional effect, since it allows precise control over the shape, size and location of a video frame.

How to play, share and manage slide recordings

You may access slide recordings within Google Slides on a computer. However, unlike recording, which requires you to use Google Chrome, you may access and play existing recordings within Google Slides on a variety of modern browsers. For example, the following steps all work when you use Google Slides within either Google Chrome or Apple’s Safari browser.

To access recordings associated with a Google Slides presentation, follow these steps.

• Select the Rec button in the upper right area. The recordings you’ve made of the presentations will display. Importantly, the system shows both the date and duration of each recording.
• To view, share or download a recording, click anywhere on the playback icon or title of the recording ( Figure G ). It should open in a new tab. Within this tab, you might:
• Select the Play icon in the center of the video image to play the recording.
• Select the Share button in the upper right corner of the screen to modify access settings and give other people access to the file.
• Select the Download icon in the down arrow above a tray icon in the upper right area of the screen to download the file.

• Select the three dot menu to the right of a listed recording to:
• Rename a file something other than the default recording title.
• Remove a previously made recording you no longer need.
• Copy link and obtain the Google Drive URL for the recorded file.

All Google Slides recordings are stored in a Slides recordings folder on Google Drive. The recordings are saved as .webm files, which is a widely supported web video format. You may easily open and play .webm files on both Apple and Android mobile phones. Any recordings you make using Google Slides should be easy to view on almost any device.

Does the ability to record a presentation within Google Slides streamline your workflow? What sorts of video presentations will you create with this new capability? Mention or message me on X ( @awolber ) to let me know how you use screen recording within Google Slides.

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Educircles.org

This tutorial will show you how to teach lessons online by recording a Google slides lesson with audio and video.

Recording your Google Slides presentation is something you might want to do if you have to teach using distance learning and you want to create some digital resources for your students.

So, in this tutorial, I will show you

• How to record a video of you teaching a lesson using Google Slides.
• Some free software that you can use to record screencasts.
• How to upload the video to Google Drive
• How to get a link to share with your students (if you’re a teacher.)

NOTE: This video is also good if you’re a student:

• Instead of teaching a lesson, you’re probably recording a presentation for your teacher.
• At the end, you can use the link to share your video with your teacher to hand in your homework.

Resources you need for this tutorial

A couple of things to know before we start…

• You need a microphone. Maybe your laptop has a microphone, or maybe you want to wear a headset.
• The free software to record the screencast (I’ll show you how to get it in a second) and
• of course you need a Google account.

You do not need a webcam because we’re not doing any video of ourselves. So you can record in your pyjamas or with bed head, and no one will be the wiser.

What software can I use to record a Google Slides presentation (screencast)?

Free screencast software option #1: apowersoft free screen recorder.

I use something called Apowersoft Free Screen Recorder and I use the version from CNET – it’s a very specific download that I use.

I like it because…

• it’s free (it’s not a trial version.)
• There is no time limit to how long of a Google Slideshow video that you can record.
• There’s no watermark.

Of course, because it’s free, it’s a basic version with zero editing features.

(This means you have to record everything in one cut… or use another program or the premium version to edit together your video.)

PRO TEACHER TIP:

• If you record short teacher videos, it’s easier for you to record and maybe less intimidating for your students to watch (i.e. it’s not too long.)
• Also, shorter videos with good titles might make it easier for students to find what they’re looking for later on if they want to review a lesson.

Free Screencast Software Option #2: FlashBack Express

I’m going to show you how to get the Apowersoft download from CNET but of course I’m also recording this screencast of me doing a tutorial of a screencast, so the second screen recorder I’m exploring right now is called FlashBack Express.

SIDE NOTE: It seems like it’s a little easier to trim the beginning and end of a video using FlashBack express, but I find it takes longer to save the video, and I have to go in and set the resolution of the recording myself or the video looks kind of pixelated.)

Video Tutorial:

How to record a google slide presentation for distance learning.

Click here to watch the tutorial on YouTube

Okay so let’s go to Google. If I Google Apowersoft Free screen recorder, I get a couple of options.

The first few are from the official website – they’ve updated the software, which is great, but now this version is a free trial version and so it doesn’t have all of the features that the old version used to have.

I want to go to this CNET link which has an old version of the software, and I know this is the one I want because it has a blue camera icon with a red dot. I just click download here to get it from CNET.

I have already installed this, so I’m going to do a demo screencast of this slideshow about critical thinking.

When the software opens up, it’s going to right away show me a region that I can record. I probably want to record just my screen, so present the slideshow and change the bounding area (the recording area) so it just records the size of the slides in my Google slides.

A couple of things:

You want to wait for your Google slides to completely load. There is a loading bar at the bottom of the screens. You can start your slideshow before the loading bar is completely done, but your animations and transitions may look a little bit choppy. I recommend waiting until the Google slides was completely loaded so that your animations look great.

This is the recording toolbar from the screenshot software I’m using.

• I could go fullscreen and record everything or
• I can just record a region.

There’s an option for video – you can choose between your WebCam or your screen.

There’s an option for audio – right now I’m just recording my microphone.

You may want to choose the system sound and microphone setting if you have a video playing on your computer (in your lesson) and you want to record the sound from the video and your lesson.

Just be aware, the system sound also includes things like “bing” sound effects – like when your windows open.

Couple of other things on the side here.

• I have options and I could turn off the recording toolbar once I start recording if I don’t want it in. If you leave it on the screen, it will be part of your slideshow. (Unless you drag it to the side offscreen.)
• If I click on record (I can see there is) no watermark and the microphone is on.
• I’m going to click okay and so it counts down and then I can start my lesson.
• Once it starts recording, I’m going to make sure that I click on the window with the slideshow to make sure that I’m in the slideshow and then I can use the right and left cursor buttons on my keyboard so that I can slide through the slideshow and that way I don’t have to worry about accidentally moving my mouse when I click on the screen to move forwards.

When I stop recording on this video…

• it will automatically start playing back what it recorded.
• There’s a save button here.
• Even though there’s an option here to change and trim out the beginning and the end to get the exact section I want to record, I find that this older version of the software is a little bit glitchy, and sometimes I’ll set it to record a certain part and then it won’t actually record that part it. (It won’t actually trim to that spot.)
• So, I find it’s best in this free software just to start a presentation right away and then at the end leave a few seconds (of silence) as I end it.

So I’m going to close this – I’m not going to say that version.

I can see my slideshow here. My Google slides is here and the toolbar here is ready to record so I’m gonna hit record and then I’m going to move the toolbar out of the way and I’m gonna start this lesson.

Am I ready yes move that all the way…

SAMPLE LESSON ON CRITICAL THINKING:

Okay, today we’re going to start a unit on critical thinking and before we can talk about critical thinking , I’m just going to ask you a few questions to get your minds on and ready for this lesson.

So, the first “minds on” question is this: What is thinking and what does it mean to think?

So I’m going to get you to pause the video and I’m going to have you jot down on paper or in a Google Docs, what is thinking what does it mean to think?

So, pause the video and jot down some ideas.

Okay, we’re back. So, I’m going to ask you a second “minds on” question and it’s this:

What is critical thinking, and how is critical thinking different from regular thinking?

So, on your jot notes page, jot down a few ideas and pause the video. How is critical thinking, different from regular thinking? Pause the video.

Here is the third, final “minds on” question: How is critical thinking different from being critical of someone else’s ideas?

So, sometimes you might say, oh, that person is criticizing someone. Well, what’s the difference between critical thinking and being critical of someone or someone else’s ideas?

Pause the video and jot down some ideas about how is critical thinking different from criticizing someone.

Pause the video.

Okay, so now that you’ve had a chance to think about critical thinking, I’m going to have you write a paragraph response and I’m going to give you two options.

The first paragraph question is this: Why do we need to think critically?

So, if you choose this option, you look at your jot notes and you write a paragraph. Why do we need to think critically?

Or, option number two: What might happen when we don’t think critically?

So, if you choose the second option, you look at your jot notes from the previous “minds on” questions and you write a paragraph. What might happen when we don’t think critically?

To recap… You’re going to write a paragraph to one of these two questions:

• Option #1. Why do we need to think critically?
• Option #2. What might happen when we don’t think critically?

Once you write your paragraph, hand it in and tomorrow in our next lesson, we’re going to be looking at critical thinking.

So I paused this video. Apowersoft is automatically playing back what I had.

I can see that the lesson started around seven seconds.

If I move this scrubber to seven seconds, I can see the time at the beginning.

So if I move my mouse over the blue triangle – It changes into a white line with two arrows. That’s how I know I can move it backwards and forwards.

If I jump to the end of the video – I can see that even though I jumped forwards, the software is a little bit glitchy and it got rid of my blue timeline area.

So what I do is, on a separate piece of paper, I just write down when I want the video lesson to end (in this case at 242)

I know that because at the bottom here in white, it says 242 in the timeline.

At the beginning, I think I want to start around seven seconds. Maybe, I will start it at five.

Click and drag from around five seconds to three minutes.

(It automatically starts playing back my voice so just pause it.)

I’m just going to move my mouse – hover over the blue triangle

I’m gonna move it to around seven seconds to begin with and then at the other and I’m to move it to around 242 (and I know this because I watched the video and then I just wrote down sometimes.)

So now I have this blue area where I’m going to save.

I’m going to hit the save button… save as a video …file and I can play the video

(I’m not entirely sure that cropped any sounds – and I’ve found, sometimes in the past, this software is not great at trimming at the beginning.)

I’m just going to go to the end of the video…

Okay, so that looks pretty good. I’m pretty happy with that.

… If I open the folder to see where it saved it. It shows me this place where it saves all the videos.

It automatically records

• the first file was just a trial that we had
• the second one is once it records, it saves the file right away.
• this top file here – This is the one I want to upload.

So, I’m just going to rename the file. I’m going to call it Minds On Critical Thinking.

I’m going to play it just to double check this is the video I want.

If I go back to the recording software, I have to click done. If I click anywhere else, it will just beep at me. But, if I click done, there’s a couple of options here:

• this one is to save the file to the cloud. I’m not going to use it. It uploads it to a service that they have here ShowMore. That’s what they’re using. I don’t want to use.
• I could click this button over here that says share. But, I find I don’t actually use these options. It just opens up the Google Drive and I can do that manually myself.

Okay, so I’m going to hit cancel. So I have saved this. I’m going to close the recording. it automatically goes back to recorder. I’m going to close that software.

I’m going to go to my Google drive.

This is the folder where I want to upload my video.

What I’m gonna do is just drag the video file from the folder where it was saved into Google Drive.

Now it is uploading the file into Google Drive.

I find initially, it may take a few minutes for Google to process the video.

So, if I try to watch it right now, I’ll get this message that says, “hey, we’re processing the video. Check it out later” and later on, it will be fine.

I’m going to just escape and get out of that.

But now that it’s up here in my Google folder, I can get the link to share with somebody.

So if I right–click here on the file name, I can click on share and I can choose some options.

I can get a shareable link up here.

• I might change it so that only the people in my school can see it.
• I might change it so that anyone can see it.

If I click on more, I have…

•  the option to make the video link either public on the Internet or
• I can make it so that anyone who has the the specific link can find it.

If I choose the top two versions, it means they don’t have to sign in. They can just watch it and that might be what works for you.

Or, you may choose it so that only people at your school or organization can view this.

Or, you might decide, hey, I don’t want that it all. I don’t want to link share and what I can do is then type in people’s names directly and share the video like a normal Google doc.

I’m going to copy this link. And now if I open a new window, if I pasted the link in here, the video will show.

This was the link that I would share with my students or with my teacher.

So that was a tutorial on how to record a Google slide presentation that includes audio and video.

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eLearning Desk

Your Online Learning Guide

How to Record a Google Slides Presentation (with Audio & Video)

Whether you’re teaching an online class or having an important meeting, recording your Google Slides presentation can come in handy later for your or your students’ reference.

Stay with us as we break down how to record a Google Slides presentation with audio and video using free software.

• 1.1 Step #1: Ensure You Have the Required Resources
• 1.2 Step #2: Install Required Software
• 1.3 Step #3: Run the Tool
• 1.4 Step #4: Set Up Your Presentation
• 1.5 Step #5: Prepare to Record
• 1.6 Step #6: Start Recording
• 2.1 Related posts:

How to Record a Google Slides Presentation (with Audio & Video)

Before you can begin recording your Google Slides presentation, you will need a few things:

Step #1: Ensure You Have the Required Resources

• A microphone (you can use your laptop’s mic or wear a headset)
• Recording software (we touch on this in the coming section)
• A Google account

Step #2: Install Required Software

There are several software tools available online for free that you can use to record a Google Slides presentation. For the sake of ease and clarity, we use Apowersoft, a free tool that you can download from CNET .  

After downloading the executable, double click on it to run it and complete the wizard to install.

We recommend using this tool because it is 100% free to use and does not limit how much of your presentation you can record. 

While an earlier version of the tool did not add a watermark to recorded videos, in the new version, you will have to sign up with Apowersoft to record videos without a watermark.

It’s important to remember that the basic tool does not offer any editing features. In other words, you will need to record your presentation in one take or use another editing program to piece together the clips of your presentation.

If you’re a teacher, we recommend recording short videos since they’re convenient to make and also easier for students to watch. 

Step #3: Run the Tool

When you launch Apowersoft Free Screen Recorder, it will show you the region you can record with the tool right away.

You can change the region the tool will record by moving the recording area around by clicking and dragging the button in the middle. You can alter the bounds of the recording area by simply dragging the bounds as you please.

Alternatively, you can click on the “Full Screen” icon on the panel on the bottom. Since you need to record a Google Slides presentation, this is the button you want to click.

It’s also important to set up the tool correctly before proceeding to the next steps. If you look at the Apowersoft recorder’s panel, you will find video and audio options next to the record button on the left.

Ensure that the tool is set to record your screen and not your webcam and that the tool is recording audio from the correct microphone. 

Note that if there is a video in your slideshow, you will need to record the sound from your computer. 

Remember that choosing to record the system’s sounds also means that your computer’s error sounds (“bing”) and all other system sounds may also be recorded.

Step #4: Set Up Your Presentation

Before you can start recording, navigate to slides.google.com and find your presentation. Next, click on the “Slideshow” button in the top right corner. This will display the presentation in full-screen mode. 

It’s important to ensure that your slides on Google slides load completely before you start recording. If all the slides aren’t fully loaded, the transitions from slide to slide may look choppy in your recording.

Step #5: Prepare to Record

When both the recording tool and your presentation are ready, you can hit the record button on the panel. Clicking the button will make a popup appear. If you have logged into your Apowersoft account, it will record without a watermark.

You will also see the hotkeys you can use to control the recording in the popup.

If you hit the “OK” button, a 3-second countdown timer will appear before the tool starts recording. If you don’t want the Apowersoft recorder’s panel to appear in your recording, like in the following image:

You will need to navigate to the options menu by clicking on the three dots button on the right side of the panel.

You can then toggle the “Show recording toolbar” option off from the options menu. 

You can also change several other settings from this menu, including the recording format and the “Record” and “Stop Recording” keyboard shortcuts.

Step #6: Start Recording

Navigate to your slideshow window and click the “Rec” button. The tool will start recording after the countdown. You can go through the slides by pressing the right and left buttons. 

One of the most useful features of this tool is that it allows you to pause recording at certain points if you need a moment to proceed to your next talking point.

If you’ve left the recording panel enabled, you can use it to pause the recording whenever you want. 

Alternatively, you can press Ctrl-Alt-F3 to pause the recording. After you’ve caught up with the talking points or taken a moment to focus, you can press Ctrl-Alt-F1 to start the recording again.

After you finish recording the slideshow, press Ctrl-Alt-F2 to stop recording. The tool will then automatically start playing the video you recorded, and you can go through it.

You can use the handles on the extreme left and right of the player to trim the beginning and end of the video. 

However, we suggest that you do not do any trimming with this software since it sometimes ruins the recording by not trimming at the correct point.

If you’re satisfied with the recording, click on the “Save” button on the bottom right to save the video.

A menu with a default name for the recording and the folder where it’ll be saved will open up.

You can rename the file from this menu without any hassle. You can also select where you want to save the video from the “Open Folder” button.

If you’ve signed up with Apowersoft, they will offer you free cloud storage to save your videos. You can upload the video directly to the cloud storage by clicking on the “Upload to the cloud” button in the Save menu. 

Alternatively, you can upload the video you recorded straight to YouTube, Vimeo, Google Drive, or Dropbox by clicking the “Cloud” button instead of the “Save” button.

If you are a teacher, saving the video to Google Drive may be the right way to go. You can easily share the video with your students by making the video sharable and sending them the link to the file.

How to Convert Google Slides to PowerPoint in Simple Steps

While there are many ways to record a Google Slides presentation, using the Apowersoft free video recorder is one of the easiest ways to go about it.

The software is quite intuitive, and you should be able to figure out what buttons perform which function without expressly reading through this guide.

That being said, learning all the functions before you begin using the tool is an excellent way to ensure you get the most out of the tool and make a solid recording for your future reference or for your students.

Related posts:

• 10 Top Disadvantages of Online Classes
• 15 Huge Benefits of Online Classes
• The Role of Operating Systems

By Maverick

This is Maverick. During Covid-19 Pandemic, A School Teacher turned into an online Instructor. Here I Share How you can build your own Online School and offers eLearning to your Students. I'm trying to make the eLearning Desk a resource for Students as well as for Teachers.

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