Generate Google Slides from markdown & HTML. Run from the command line or embed in another application. This project was developed as an example of how to use the Google Slides (REST) API. While it does not yet produce stunningly beautiful decks, you are encouraged to use this tool for quickly prototyping presentations. Contributions are welcome.
NOTE: This is a fork of the original repo at https://github.com/googleworkspace/md2googleslides. The project is still "actively" maintained, but some users can't wait for the PRs from the original maintainer. Upstream changes will be merged as necessary.
For command line use, install md2gslides globally:
npm install -g @wescpy/md2gslidesThen get your OAuth client ID credentials:
- Create (or reuse) a developer project at https://console.developers.google.com
- Enable Google Slides API at API library page
- Go to Credentials page and click "+ Create credentials" at the top
- Create "OAuth client ID" type of credentials.
- Choose type "Computer Application" and give it some name.
- Download client ID/secret file and shorten the name to:
client_id.json. - Move
client_id.json(name has to be exact) to~/.md2googleslides.
After installing, import your slides by running:
md2gslides slides.mdYou'll get a slide deck named "slides.md".
NOTE: The first time you run the
md2gslidescommand, you will be prompted for authorization. OAuth token credentials are stored in~/.md2googleslides/credentials.json. You may get a "scary-looking" screen that says, "Google hasn't verified this app." Click "Advanced" then "Go to APP-NAME (unsafe)" if you trust yourself as the author of the app that's requesting to access your Slides files in Drive.
If you want to give the presentation a different name, use the --title option:
md2gslides slides.md --title "Talk Title"This will generate new Google Slides in your account with title Talk Title.
Each time you run md2gslides, a new slide deck will be generated. If you want to append to or replace an existing slide deck, get the Drive file ID of that deck. The file ID is the 44-character string in a presentation's URL. For example, for this slide deck URL: https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1EAYk18WDjIG-zp_0vLm3CsfQh_i8eXc67Jo2O9C6Vuc/edit, its file ID is 1EAYk18WDjIG-zp_0vLm3CsfQh_i8eXc67Jo2O9C6Vuc.
Let's say you made some additional slides in slides2.md. To generate those slides and append to your existing deck, run:
md2gslides slides2.md --append FILE_IDTo regenerate and replace a deck you've created with file ID FILE_ID, run:
md2gslides slides.md --erase --append FILE_IDEach time you run the md2gslides command, the newly-created or edited slide deck will open in a new browser tab. If you want to suppress that from happening because you already have it open in an existing tab, issue the --no-browser option. This command replaces an existing deck but doesn't open up a new browser tab:
md2gslides slides.md --no-browser --erase --append FILE_IDIf you're an advanced user, you can use the shorter alternative 1-character options:
md2gslides slides.md -nea FILE_ID -t "Talk Title"Images (see syntax below) are expected to be online (have URLs), but if you have local files you wish you use the --use-fileio option. More info on this option down below in the Local images section.
md2gslides uses a subset of the CommonMark and Github Flavored Markdown rules for markdown.
Each slide is typically represented by a header, followed by zero or more block elements.
Begin a new slide with a horizontal rule (---). The separator
may be omitted for the first slide.
The following examples show how to create slides of various layouts:
---
# This is a title slide
## Your name here
---
# This is a section title
---
# Section title & body slide
## This is a subtitle
This is the body
---
# Title & body slide
This is the slide body.
Add {.big} to the title to make a slide with one big point
---
# This is the main point {.big}
Use {.big} on a header in combination with a body too.
---
# 100% {.big}
This is the body
Separate columns with {.column}. The marker must appear
on its own line with a blank both before and after.
---
# Two column layout
This is the left column
{.column}
This is the right column
md2googleslides does not edit or control any theme related options. Just set a base theme you want on Google Slides directly.
Even if you will use --append option for deck reuse, theme will be not changed.
Images can be placed on slides using image tags. Multiple images can be included. Mulitple images in a single paragraph are arranged in columns, multiple paragraphs arranged as rows. NOTE: Images are currently scaled and centered to fit the slide template.
---
# Slides can have images
Set the background image of a slide by adding {.background} to
the end of an image URL.
---
# Slides can have background images
{.background}
Include YouTube videos with a modified image tag.
---
# Slides can have videos
@[youtube](MG8KADiRbOU)
Include speaker notes for a slide using HTML comments. Text inside the comments may include markdown for formatting, though only text formatting is allowed. Videos, images, and tables are ignored inside speaker notes.
---
# Slide title
{.background}
<!--
These are speaker notes.
-->
Basic formatting rules are allowed, including:
- Bold
- Italics
- Code
- Strikethrough
- Hyperlinks
- Ordered lists
- Unordered lists
The following markdown illustrates a few common styles.
**Bold**, *italics*, and ~~strikethrough~~ may be used. Ordered lists: 1. Item 1 1. Item 2 1. Item 2.1 Unordered lists: * Item 1 * Item 2 * Item 2.1
Additionally, a subset of inline HTML tags are supported for styling.
<span><sup><sub><em><i><strong><b>
Supported CSS styles for use with <span> elements:
colorbackground-colorfont-weight: boldfont-style: italictext-decoration: underlinetext-decoration: line-throughfont-familyfont-variant: small-capsfont-size(must use points for units)
You may also use {style="..."} attributes
after markdown elements to apply styles. This can be used on headers, inline
elements, code blocks, etc.
Use Github style emoji in your text using
the :emoji:.
The following example inserts emoji in the header and body of the slide.
### I :heart: cats :heart_eyes_cat:
Both indented and fenced code blocks are supported, with syntax highlighting.
The following example renders highlighted code.
### Hello World
```javascript
console.log('Hello world');
```
To change the syntax highlight theme specify the --style <theme> option on the
command line. All highlight.js themes
are supported. For example, to use the github theme
md2gslides slides.md --style githubYou can also apply additional style changes to the entire block, such as changing the font size:
### Hello World
```javascript
console.log('Hello world');
```{style="font-size: 36pt"}
Tables are supported via GFM syntax.
Note: Including tables and other block elements on the same slide may produce poor results with overlapping elements. Either avoid or manually adjust the layout after generating the slides.
The following generates a 2x5 table on the slide.
### Top pets in the United States Animal | Number -------|-------- Fish | 142 million Cats | 88 million Dogs | 75 million Birds | 16 million
Images referencing local paths temporarily uploaded and hosted to file.io. File.io is an ephemeral file serving service that generates short-lived random URLs to the upload file and deletes content shortly after use.
Since local images are uploaded to a third party, explicit opt-in is required to use this feature. Include the --use-fileio option to opt-in to uploading images. This applies to file-based images as well
as automatically rasterized content like math expressions and SVGs.
Slides can also include generated images, using $$$ fenced blocks for the data. Currently supported generated images are math expression (TeX and MathML) as well as SVG. Rasterized images are treated like local images are require opt-in to uploading images to a 3rd party service via the --use-fileio option.
Using TeX:
# How about some math? $$$ math \cos (2\theta) = \cos^2 \theta - \sin^2 \theta $$$
SVG
# Or some SVG?
$$$ svg
<svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"
xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"
viewBox="0 0 48 48">
<defs>
<path id="a" d="M44.5 20H24v8.5h11.8C34.7 33.9 30.1 37 24 37c-7.2 0-13-5.8-13-13s5.8-13 13-13c3.1 0 5.9 1.1 8.1 2.9l6.4-6.4C34.6 4.1 29.6 2 24 2 11.8 2 2 11.8 2 24s9.8 22 22 22c11 0 21-8 21-22 0-1.3-.2-2.7-.5-4z"/>
</defs>
<clipPath id="b">
<use xlink:href="#a" overflow="visible"/>
</clipPath>
<path clip-path="url(#b)" fill="#EA4335" d="M0 11l17 13 7-6.1L48 14V0H0z"/>
<path clip-path="url(#b)" fill="#34A853" d="M0 37l30-23 7.9 1L48 0v48H0z"/>
<path clip-path="url(#b)" fill="#4285F4" d="M48 48L17 24l-4-3 35-10z"/>
</svg>
$$$
Like local images, generated images are temporarily served via file.io.
Pull requests for other image generators (e.g. mermaid, chartjs, etc.) are welcome!
You can also pipe markdown into the tool by omitting the file name argument.
With the exception of /bin/md2gslides.js, TypeScript is used throughout and compiled
with Babel. Mocha and Chai
are used for testing.
Before anything, ensure you have all dependencies:
npm installTo compile:
npm run compileTo run unit tests:
npm run testTo lint/format tests:
npm run lintSee CONTRIBUTING for additional terms.
This library is licensed under Apache 2.0. Full license text is available in LICENSE.