Google Slides presentations are typically created with a horizontal or landscape orientation. However, there are several reasons why you may want to switch to a vertical or portrait layout instead.
Benefits of Vertical Slides
Here are some of the main benefits of using vertical slides in your Google Slides presentations:
- Better mobile experience – Mobile devices like smartphones and tablets are often held vertically. Vertical slides match this natural phone orientation, making presentations easier to view and scroll through on mobile.
- Encourages scrolling – Vertical slides promote continuous scrolling rather than clicking, which creates a more immersive, story-like experience for your audience.
- Creative flexibility – The vertical canvas provides more room for creativity in your slide design. You can showcase tall images, charts, diagrams, and other visuals that wouldn’t fit as nicely on widescreen slides.
- Focus attention – Vertical slides naturally draw the viewer’s eye from top to bottom. This allows you to emphasize key information by placing it higher up on the slide.
- Printability – Vertical slide dimensions correspond better to standard paper sizes if you want to print handouts or notes.
Step-by-Step Guide to Make Slides Vertical
Switching to vertical slide orientation in Google Slides only takes a few quick steps:
1. Access Page Setup
- Open your presentation and select File > Page setup from the top menu.
2. Choose Custom Orientation
- In the dropdown menu, choose Custom instead of the default Widescreen 16:9 orientation.
3. Enter Dimensions
- For vertical slides, you’ll want to enter a height value larger than the width. For example:
- 8.5″ x 11″ (common US Letter paper size)
- 1080 x 1920 pixels (standard mobile device portrait resolution)
- Click Apply to save the new vertical slide dimensions.
And that’s it! Every slide in your presentation will now have a vertical layout.
Tips for Designing Vertical Slides
When creating vertical slides, keep these design tips in mind:
- Lead with key information at the top – Since viewers scroll down vertically, place your most important text, images, and headlines near the top of the slide.
- Use visuals effectively – Images and graphics can help break up long sections of text. Look for tall, narrow visuals that fit the new slide proportions.
- Watch your word count – Too much text can look cramped and crowded on a vertical slide. Try to condense content to key takeaways.
- Add white space – Generous margins and empty areas let key slide elements breathe. White space also helps control the pace at which viewers scroll down.
- Maintain clean alignments – With less horizontal space, inconsistent text alignments can quickly look messy. Keep things aligned left or centered depending on what works best for each slide.
More Tips and Tricks
- You can’t mix vertical and horizontal slides within the same Google Slides presentation. The page setup applies to all slides.
- For printable vertical slides, check that your slide height matches common paper dimensions like 8.5 x 11 inches.
- Consider using vertical slides for presentations designed specifically for mobile viewing, like internal communications.
- Always test your vertical slides on various devices to ensure your text and visuals remain easy to see and read.
Making slides vertical in Google Slides only takes a minute, but it can make a big difference for both visual design and presentation delivery. Follow this guide to switch orientation and start designing creatively on the vertical canvas!
