You’ve heard it before – slides are made to help your audience understand your message. And while they can support you as a presenter too, they shouldn’t be crammed with text. If you need extra support, you’ve got your notes.
And since we know how useful bullet points can be (especially for presentations that are used as documents and are sent via email), we thought we could share some thoughts on bullet points in Google Slides in particular. Even though Slides doesn’t let you customise bulleted lists (like PowerPoint), you can still create, write and organise your content in a readable way.
How to add bullet points in Google Slides
You can add a bulleted list to your Google Slides deck quite easily.
1. Place the cursor in the text box of your presentation and click the Bulleted list icon as shown below.
2. The bullet point will appear in the text box. Now add your text.
3. Hit Enter to make another entry.
There’s also another way of doing it. You can first type in your text in the text box, highlight it and click the Bulleted list button.
The shortcut key to activate bullet point is Ctrl + Shift + 8 for Windows and Option + 8 for Mac.
How can I use bullet points in Google Slides?
As mentioned above, bullets in Slides cannot be changed (like adding an emoji or an image for a bullet point for instance), but still, here’s what you can do:
1. Explore the Bulleted list options. You can choose one of the six alternatives and change the bullet icon to fit your needs.
2. Check out the Numbered list options. These work similarly to the Bulleted list but are more suitable for instructions and steps (like recipes or user manuals). If you’re in Education, you probably often resort to lettered lists and those are again in the Numbered list menu.
3. Consider making a sublist. Sometimes you just need to structure your list of points even further, so make use of the Sublist option. If you want to start an entry that is a sub-point, press the Tab key and to undo that, hit Enter.
How to use bullet points the right way?
So you know where the bullet points icon is and you can easily insert bullets in your Google Slides presentation. But do read on if you want to know how to use bullet points in the best possible way to so that your audience stays with you until the end of the presentation.
1. Keep things simple. Remember your audience is there to hear you and not read your slides, so don’t go too wild with bullets. From 3 to 5 is a reasonable number and if you still think you need more entries, section them into different slides. Changing the slides will keep the attendees engaged and you will still be able to outline your key points.
2. Bullets signal key points. Here’s yet another reminder, that a bulleted list is not the place to go into details and overexplain things. Bullets should read like headlines, so be concise.
3. Be consistent throughout the whole presentation. If you’ve used a particular bullet style on one slide, stick with it across the entire presentation.
We have a feeling you’ll start using out tips on bullet points in Google Slides as soon as your next presentation and why not even beyond? After all, bullets are used in any communication material. Follow our blog for all kinds of presentation knowledge, news and updates and hit us up in the comments if you have a question that needs to be answered.
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