Daniel Caraway

Daniel Caraway

I put the fun in functions.

dailylog 9-14-20

2 minute read

How to Get Images to Google Slides

TL;DR:

  1. Generate files (using some naming convention so you just have to loop 1-119 or whatever)
  2. Use Filezilla to upload them to a domain
  3. Use this script inside google.scripts (subbing out your image urls of course – which you generated using a simple loop see below)

Google Scripts Script

var NAME = "ALL MY SLIDES!!";
var presentation = SlidesApp.create(NAME);

/**
 * Creates a single slide using the image from the given link;
 * used directly by foreach(), hence the parameters are fixed.
 * @param {string} imageUrl A String object representing an image URL
 * @param {number} index The index into the array; unused (req'd by forEach)
 */
function addImageSlide(imageUrl, index) {
  var slide = presentation.appendSlide(SlidesApp.PredefinedLayout.BLANK);
  var image = slide.insertImage(imageUrl);
  var imgWidth = image.getWidth();
  var imgHeight = image.getHeight();
  var pageWidth = presentation.getPageWidth();
  var pageHeight = presentation.getPageHeight();
  var newX = pageWidth / 2 - imgWidth / 2;
  var newY = pageHeight / 2 - imgHeight / 2;
  image.setLeft(newX).setTop(newY);
}

/**
 * The driver application features an array of image URLs, setting of the
 * main title & subtitle, and creation of individual slides for each image.
 */
function main() {
  images = [
    "http://www.google.com/images/branding/googlelogo/2x/googlelogo_color_272x92dp.png",
    "http://www.google.com/services/images/phone-animation-results_2x.png",
    "http://www.google.com/services/images/section-work-card-img_2x.jpg",
    "http://gsuite.google.com/img/icons/product-lockup.png",
    "http://gsuite.google.com/img/home-hero_2x.jpg",
  ];
  var [title, subtitle] = presentation.getSlides()[0].getPageElements();
  title.asShape().getText().setText(NAME);
  subtitle.asShape().getText().setText("You made this?\nI made this.");
  images.forEach(addImageSlide);
}

for i in range(49):
    img = "'https://my-cat-farm-is-kool.com/folder/filename_" + str(i)+".png',"
    print(img)

THINGS I TRIED BEFORE THIS:

PROBLEM: I have hundreds of images that need to go into a slide show! Far too many to do by hand!!

SOLUTION: Automate that! With automator?!

PROBLEM: On a mac, automator stopped working with Power Point with Office 2016…

SOLUTION: What if I convert all of the images to PDFs? Can’t I batch import PDFS?

PROBLEM: Oh wait, I haven’t installed Imagemagik on this machine yet…

SOLUTION: FREAKING INSTALL IT YAAAAH!!!

PROBLEM: This is not the original problem we are trying to solve, is it? Might there be an easier way?

SOLUTION: Yes! Yes there is an extension for Google Slides!

PROBLEM: It imports them, but not in the correct order. Yes, we wasted a whole $3 on this.

SOLUTION: Can we write our own google script to do this?

YES! YES WE CAN!!!

PROBLEM: The basic script (the one without forms or Google Drive authentication) require the images to be hosted somewhere online…

SOLUTION: Use one of my MANY dreamhost accounts!!!!

PROBLEM: The one I’ve ensured is secure (read here using encryption and port 22) has three domains, two of which are now defunct

POTENTIAL SOLUTION: Renew these domains

POTENTIAL PROBLEM: Get lost on the endless “why do I have so many domains OH WAIT YES YES THIS FUN PROJECT!!” side quest

SOLUTION: Simply host a folder you know you will delete on the one domain that IS working, even though it is hosting a project your friends are using…

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