How to Make Google Slides Interactive: Six Ways

Yes, Google Slides can be interactive. Four of these ways are built in, a Google Form is free, and way 5 needs a tool you add (we make one of them, Pop Quiz).

1. Links and buttons: how to link slides in Google Slides #

A link on text, a shape or an image jumps to another slide or opens a web page when clicked in Slideshow. It’s how you build a click-through menu, a choose-your-path story, or a self-check quiz where the right answer links to a “Correct” slide.

1. Select the text, shape or image people will click.
2. Click Insert > Link, or press Ctrl + K (⌘ + K on a Mac).
3. Choose Slides in this presentation and click the slide to jump to, or paste a web address and click Apply.
4. To change or remove a link, click it and choose Change or Remove.
5. Press Slideshow to test it: in the editor, a click only shows a preview of the link.
6. Presenting live? In Slideshow, type a slide number and press Enter to jump straight there, no link needed.

Good for: onboarding packs, product tours, choose-your-path decks and self-check quizzes, one person at a time.

2. Q&A in Google Slides: the built-in audience questions #

Google Slides has a live Q&A built in, and as of October 2026 it’s still there: viewers “ask questions from any device” and vote on each other’s.

1. Next to Slideshow, click the Down arrow and choose Presenter view.
2. In the new window, click Audience tools (or press A during a slideshow).
3. Click Start new, or Continue recent to pick up an earlier session.
4. Your audience opens the link shown at the top of your slides, clicks Ask a question…, and submits, anonymously if they like.
5. To show a question full screen, click Present next to it, and Hide to take it down.
6. End the session with the on/off switch in the Q&A window, then read every question later under Tools > Q&A history.

Good for: talks, town halls, all-hands, and training where people won’t put a hand up. It takes questions only, not polls or quizzes.

3. Video, audio, animations and transitions: reveals that land #

These don’t ask the audience to do anything, but they make a slide react: the answer appears after the guesses, the clip plays on cue. Pair them with a question asked out loud.

1. For a reveal, select the answer (text, image or tick) and click Insert > Animation.
2. Leave it as Appear (On click), so it stays hidden until you click. Tick By paragraph to reveal a list line by line.
3. For a clip, click Insert > Video and choose Search YouTube, By URL or Google Drive.
4. Select the video, click Format options, and under “Video playback” choose Play (on click), Play (automatically) or Play (manual).
5. For sound, upload an .mp3 or .wav file to Google Drive, then click Insert > Audio and select it.
6. Add slide transitions under Slide > Transition, and share the deck with anyone else presenting it so the media plays for them.
7. Rehearse in the browser you’ll present from: Google notes “certain animations may not function” in some browsers.

Good for: quiz reveals run by a quizmaster, “guess before I show you” moments, pacing a long talk. The room shouts the answers; nothing is collected.

4. A Google Form, linked or QR-coded from the deck #

A slide can’t hold a form, but it can point to one. People answer on their own phone or laptop, and the results land in Google Forms.

1. Build the form in Google Forms. To mark answers, go to Settings, turn on Make this a quiz, and set an answer key and points.
2. Click Publish and choose who can respond. An unpublished form won’t open for anyone, even with the link.
3. Click Share, tick “Shorten URL”, then click Copy responder link.
4. Put the link on a slide as text, or on a button (way 1).
5. For phones, open the link in Chrome, choose More > Cast, save, and share > Create QR code, download it, and add it with Insert > Image.
6. Guests answering? Leave “Limit to 1 response” off (it makes everyone sign in), and on a work account turn off “Restrict to users in [your domain]…” under Settings > Responses.
7. To show results, insert the responses chart with Insert > Chart > From Sheets, then click Update after people answer. It doesn’t refresh during the slideshow.

Good for: surveys, sign-ups, feedback after a session, and graded checks people do in their own time. Not for a live vote the room watches come in.

5. Live polls, word clouds and quizzes on phones: an extension or add-on #

This gets the whole room answering at once, with results on the slide as they come in. It needs a tool: a Chrome extension (Pop Quiz, which we make, or Poll Everywhere) or a Workspace add-on from the Extensions menu (Slido, AhaSlides, and classroom tools Pear Deck and Nearpod). The difference is in our add-ons and extensions guide.

To add a poll to Google Slides with Pop Quiz, a free Chrome extension:

1. Add Pop Quiz to Chrome and open your deck in Google Slides.
2. Select a slide, choose Poll in the Pop Quiz side panel, and add up to 12 options.
3. Add a join slide, with a big QR code, a short address and a four-letter room code.
4. Press Google’s own Slideshow button.
5. People scan the code, enter a nickname and vote, with no app or account for them or you.
6. Results draw on your slide in your deck’s fonts and colours. The same panel runs quizzes, word clouds and a leaderboard (full walkthrough).

The limits: the presenter needs Chrome on a laptop or desktop, it works only in Google Slides, it’s too new for reviews, and it has no Q&A (pair it with way 2). For audience questions or answers by text message, look at Slido or Poll Everywhere.

Good for: polls in meetings, word clouds, team quizzes and socials. Not for a self-paced deck nobody is presenting live.

6. A Jeopardy-style game board with linked slides #

The game-show board is way 1 at full stretch: it looks impressive and it’s only links. It doesn’t track which squares are played or keep score, so someone does that on paper.

1. Make the board slide: a grid of shapes, five category columns by five rows of points (100 to 500).
2. Make one slide per clue (25 in all), with the answer on an Appear (On click) animation (way 3).
3. Link every square to its clue: Insert > Link, Slides in this presentation, pick the slide.
4. Add a “Back to board” button on every clue slide, linked to the board.
5. Put the clue slides after an end slide, so the arrow key never walks through them.
6. Present in Slideshow: click a square, read the clue, reveal the answer, click back.

Good for: game nights, revision and team socials with a small group and a scorekeeper.

Which way to use: in the room, on a call, or self-paced #

Questions #

Can Google Slides be interactive for free? #

Yes. Links between slides, the audience Q&A and on-click animations are built in, and Google Forms is free for collecting answers. For live polls and quizzes on phones, Pop Quiz is a free Chrome extension, and several add-ons have free plans with limits.

Why don’t my links or drag-and-drop work in present mode? #

Links should work in Slideshow. If they don’t, check you linked to a slide rather than typing its title, and that you’re in Slideshow, not the editor. Drag-and-drop never works in Slideshow: present mode can’t move objects or edit text.

How do I add a poll to Google Slides? #

There’s no built-in poll. Link a Google Form from a slide (answers go to Forms, not live onto the slide), or add an extension or add-on that runs the poll on your slides, as in way 5.

Can my audience answer on their phones? #

Yes. The built-in Q&A works from any device, and a Google Form opens from a link or QR code. Live polls and quizzes need an extension or add-on; with Pop Quiz, players scan a QR code and enter a room code, with no app or account.

Where can I find interactive Google Slides templates? #

Free template sites have whole interactive categories, mostly click-through and drag-and-drop decks built with the methods above. Test a template’s buttons in Slideshow before you rely on it. A template gives you the look; the interaction is still links, animations or a tool on top.

Does any of this work in PowerPoint? #

The ideas do: links, animations and video all exist in PowerPoint, with different menus. Google’s Q&A and Pop Quiz work only in Google Slides, but you can import a PowerPoint file into Google Slides first.

Jeopardy! is a trademark of Jeopardy Productions, Inc. Pop Quiz is not affiliated with it. We use “Jeopardy-style” only to describe the board format.