How to Add & Remove Slide Numbers in Google Slides

Adding slide numbers to your Google Slides presentations can be extremely useful for both you as the presenter and your audience. Slide numbers allow you to easily refer to specific slides, create a table of contents, and give your presentation a more polished, professional look.

Fortunately, adding and removing slide numbers in Google Slides is quick and easy. In this article, we’ll walk through the step-by-step process to add slide numbers to all or some of your slides, customize the appearance and formatting, and remove numbers when no longer needed.

Benefits of Adding Slide Numbers

Here are some of the top reasons why you should consider adding slide numbers to your next Google Slides presentation:

  • Refer to specific slides easily. During a presentation, you or your audience members may want to go back to or reference a particular slide. With slide numbers displayed, you can quickly direct everyone to “go back to slide 5” rather than trying to describe the specific slide.
  • Create a table of contents. A table of contents slide with hyperlinks to various sections can allow you or your audience to easily jump around your presentation non-sequentially. With slide numbers turned on, it’s easier to link to the appropriate destinations.
  • Look more professional. Simple design choices like displaying slide numbers make your presentation look cleaner and more polished overall. It shows you put care into the details.
  • Track slides in printouts. If you print handouts of your presentation, having visible slide numbers on each page helps readers follow along and know what page they are viewing.

Step-by-Step Guide to Add Slide Numbers

Adding slide numbers only takes a few clicks:

  1. Open your Google Slides presentation.
  2. Select Insert > Slide Numbers from the top menu.
  3. In the Slide Numbers dialog box, toggle the option to On.
  4. Click Apply to add slide numbers to all slides.
    • To skip adding numbers to title slides, check the Skip title slides box first.
    • To only add numbers to certain slides, click Apply to selected after choosing the specific slides instead.

Once applied, a tiny slide number will appear in the bottom corner of all slides (except title slides if you selected that option).

Customizing Slide Number Appearance

If you want to change the look of the slide numbers, it’s easy to customize their formatting:

  1. Go to the Slide menu and choose Edit Theme to access the slide master.
  2. Select the slide master thumbnail and then click on the slide number box.
  3. Adjust formatting like font, size, color, position on the slide, etc.
  4. Click the X to close the slide master editor and apply changes.

You can make the numbers bigger or smaller, dark or light color, placed in the corner or middle, and more based on your own preferences.

Removing Slide Numbers

Need to get rid of slide numbers altogether? Just reverse the steps:

  1. Go back to Insert > Slide Numbers.
  2. Toggle the option to Off.
  3. Click Apply.

The numbers will disappear from all slides immediately.

If you only want to remove numbers from certain slides rather than all, you can simply delete the individual text boxes containing each number instead.

And that’s it! With this simple process, you can add slide numbers to any Google Slides presentation or remove them just as quickly later on. Whether you want to boost professionalism, aid navigation, or improve accessibility, displaying slide numbers can be a helpful option for both you and your viewers.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I skip title slides when adding slide numbers?

When you select Insert > Slide Numbers, check the box next to Skip title slides before clicking Apply. This will add numbers to all slides except title slides.

Can I start numbering from a slide other than 1?

Unfortunately, Google Slides does not allow you to set a starting number for slide numbering other than 1. The numbers will always begin at 1 and count up from there based on how many slides are in your presentation.

What if slide numbers seem to disappear in Present mode?

The slide number text box is only visible while editing your presentation. The box appears blank during an actual presentation. So if numbers seem to be missing during Present mode, they are still there and will reappear when going back to edit.

Can I add numbers to slides out of order?

Slide numbers will always be sequential starting from 1. If you reorder your slides or add new slides between existing numbered slides, the numbers will automatically adjust so they always display in proper numeric order.

How do I number appendix slides separately?

To number appendix slides individually from your main presentation slides, you can add a second set of slide numbers just to those pages. Toggle on numbering, choose Apply to selected, and pick only the appendix slides before formatting the numbers differently.