Forcing Present Mode of Google Slide in Google Classroom

There are instances where I want to force participants to view a slide show presentation in present mode, rather than the ‘edit view’ mode where slides show up on the left column. One instance is when I want users to interact with the material – where they choose their own path.

Force Present Mode in Google Slides

For those that don’t know how to force present mode:

• Find the word ‘edit’ in the url box (omnibox) and highlight that word and everything else to the right of it.
• Delete what has been highlighted and replace with the word ‘present’
• Copy that new URL; open another tab and paste the link to verify that what you have will force present mode. Also make sure that your share permissions of the file is set correctly (if the file is set to private, viewers will not have access).
• Share that URL with anyone you want to share it with.

The gif below walks you through the process as well.

Forcing Present Mode of Google Slides in Google Classroom

I recently discovered that the force present mode did not work the way I thought it would in Google Classroom, even though I changed the URL. What is the work around you ask?

• Change the end of the URL of your google slide as listed in the steps above.
• Open another tab and paste that URL. Then use the bit.ly chrome extension to shorten the URL. If you want to customize the URL feel free but it is not necessary.
• Then, go to Google Classroom and insert that URL in your material or assignment post.

In the gif below, you will see the difference between pasting the changed URL in Google Classroom verses pasting the bit.ly URL. Having to get a bitly URL is an extra step but it is the only work around that I know of that will force the present mode of a slide presentation in classroom. Hope you find this useful. (Have a different tip in forcing present mode? I would love to hear about it!

If you have any questions, feel free to reach out.

And that is my Spiel…