How to Add Multiple Background Images to Google Slides Presentations

Adding a background to Google Slides is a handy way to create digital activities for your students. However, it can be tedious if you have more than a few to add. Today, I’m going to share how to add multiple background images at the same time to a Google Slides presentation.

First, if you’re new to Google Slides, adding a background image means students can’t move it. This makes it much easier if you’re creating activities where they’ll be typing, adding images, or moving pieces. It’s very simple to add a background image one at a time. You can find a step by step guide for that here. However, currently, Google Slides doesn’t give you the ability to add multiple backgrounds at once. Thankfully, there’s an add on for that!

What’s an Add-On?

An add-on is exactly what it sounds like. It’s an app that can be used directly with Slides to enhance your user experience. There are tons of great add-ons to try out. To add multiple backgrounds, you can you the “Slides Toolbox” Add On. So, let’s see how to do it.

How to Use Slides Toolbox

1. Download Slides Toolbox

An image of clicking on "get add ons" then slides toolbox and install

First, download Slides Toolbox. Click on “Add-ons” on the toolbar in Google Slides, and then click “Get add-ons”. In the search bar, type “slides toolbox”. Click on the Slides Toolbox app, and then click on install. That’s it. So easy!

2. Save Your Backgrounds as Images

Before you can actually use the Slides Toolbox app, you’ll need to have your backgrounds saved as images. I personally like to save them as PNG images as they tend to be more clear than a JPEG image.

3. Adding Multiple Images as Backgrounds

Now that you have your background images saved, you can add them to your slideshow.

Click on “add-ons” in the Google Slides toolbar.
Click on “Slides Toolbox” and “Open”. (You do not need to upgrade to premium to use this function.)

An image of the add on tool bar with a mouse opening slides toolbox

The Slides Toolbox menu will open on the right hand side. Click on “Import Tools”.
Next, click on “create slides from images”. A new window will pop up.

A mouse clicking on "import tools" and create slides from images in the slides toolbox menu.

Uncheck “caption with image filename” and check “set slide as background”. Then, click next.
Next, you can add your images either from your drive or your computer. Please note, they will be imported in the order you select them, so make sure to select them in the correct order.