Google Slides Editor add-on quickstart

This quickstart creates a Google Slides Editor add-on that translates selected text in a presentation.

Objectives

• Set up the script.
• Run the script.

Prerequisites

To use this sample, you need the following prerequisites:

• A Google Account (Google Workspace accounts might require administrator approval).
• A web browser with access to the internet.

Set up the script

1. Create a Slides presentation at slides.new.
2. Click Extensions > Apps Script.
3. Click Untitled project.
4. Rename the Apps Script project to Translate Slides and click Rename.
5. Next to the Code.gs file, click More more_vert > Rename. Name the file translate.
6. Click Add a file add > HTML. Name the file sidebar.

7. Replace the contents of each file with the following corresponding code, then click Save .

   translate.gs

   slides/translate/translate.gs

   View on GitHub

   /**
    * @OnlyCurrentDoc Limits the script to only accessing the current presentation.
    */
   
   /**
    * Create a open translate menu item.
    * @param {Event} event The open event.
    */
   function onOpen(event) {
     SlidesApp.getUi().createAddonMenu()
         .addItem('Open Translate', 'showSidebar')
         .addToUi();
   }
   
   /**
    * Open the Add-on upon install.
    * @param {Event} event The install event.
    */
   function onInstall(event) {
     onOpen(event);
   }
   
   /**
    * Opens a sidebar in the document containing the add-on's user interface.
    */
   function showSidebar() {
     const ui = HtmlService
         .createHtmlOutputFromFile('sidebar')
         .setTitle('Translate');
     SlidesApp.getUi().showSidebar(ui);
   }
   
   /**
    * Recursively gets child text elements a list of elements.
    * @param {PageElement[]} elements The elements to get text from.
    * @return {Text[]} An array of text elements.
    */
   function getElementTexts(elements) {
     let texts = [];
     elements.forEach((element)=> {
       switch (element.getPageElementType()) {
         case SlidesApp.PageElementType.GROUP:
           element.asGroup().getChildren().forEach((child)=> {
             texts = texts.concat(getElementTexts(child));
           });
           break;
         case SlidesApp.PageElementType.TABLE:
           const table = element.asTable();
           for (let y = 0; y < table.getNumColumns(); ++y) {
             for (let x = 0; x < table.getNumRows(); ++x) {
               texts.push(table.getCell(x, y).getText());
             }
           }
           break;
         case SlidesApp.PageElementType.SHAPE:
           texts.push(element.asShape().getText());
           break;
       }
     });
     return texts;
   }
   
   /**
    * Translates selected slide elements to the target language using Apps Script's Language service.
    *
    * @param {string} targetLanguage The two-letter short form for the target language. (ISO 639-1)
    * @return {number} The number of elements translated.
    */
   function translateSelectedElements(targetLanguage) {
     // Get selected elements.
     const selection = SlidesApp.getActivePresentation().getSelection();
     const selectionType = selection.getSelectionType();
     let texts = [];
     switch (selectionType) {
       case SlidesApp.SelectionType.PAGE:
         selection.getPageRange().getPages().forEach((page)=> {
           texts = texts.concat(getElementTexts(page.getPageElements()));
         });
         break;
       case SlidesApp.SelectionType.PAGE_ELEMENT:
         const pageElements = selection.getPageElementRange().getPageElements();
         texts = texts.concat(getElementTexts(pageElements));
         break;
       case SlidesApp.SelectionType.TABLE_CELL:
         selection.getTableCellRange().getTableCells().forEach((cell)=> {
           texts.push(cell.getText());
         });
         break;
       case SlidesApp.SelectionType.TEXT:
         selection.getPageElementRange().getPageElements().forEach((element) =>{
           texts.push(element.asShape().getText());
         });
         break;
     }
   
     // Translate all elements in-place.
     texts.forEach((text)=> {
       text.setText(LanguageApp.translate(text.asRenderedString(), '', targetLanguage));
     });
   
     return texts.length;
   }

   sidebar.html

   slides/translate/sidebar.html

   View on GitHub

   <html>
   <head>
     <link rel="stylesheet" href="https://ssl.gstatic.com/docs/script/css/add-ons1.css">
     <style>
       .logo { vertical-align: middle; }
       ul { list-style-type: none; padding: 0; }
       h4 { margin: 0; }
     </style>
   </head>
   <body>
   <form class="sidebar branding-below">
     <h4>Translate selected slides into:</h4>
     <ul id="languages"></ul>
     <div class="block" id="button-bar">
       <button class="blue" id="run-translation">Translate</button>
     </div>
     <h5 class="error" id="error"></h5>
   </form>
   <div class="sidebar bottom">
     <img alt="Add-on logo" class="logo"
          src="https://www.gstatic.com/images/branding/product/1x/translate_48dp.png" width="27" height="27">
     <span class="gray branding-text">Translate sample by Google</span>
   </div>
   
   <script src="//ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.9.1/jquery.min.js"></script>
   <script>
     $(function() {
       // Add an input radio button for every language.
       const languages = {
         ar: 'Arabic',
         zh: 'Chinese',
         en: 'English',
         fr: 'French',
         de: 'German',
         hi: 'Hindi',
         ja: 'Japanese',
         pt: 'Portuguese',
         es: 'Spanish'
       };
       const languageList = Object.keys(languages).map((id)=> {
         return $('<li>').html([
           $('<input>')
                   .attr('type', 'radio')
                   .attr('name', 'dest')
                   .attr('id', 'radio-dest-' + id)
                   .attr('value', id),
           $('<label>')
                   .attr('for', 'radio-dest-' + id)
                   .html(languages[id])
         ]);
       });
   
       $('#run-translation').click(runTranslation);
       $('#languages').html(languageList);
     });
   
     /**
      * Runs a server-side function to translate the text on all slides.
      */
     function runTranslation() {
       this.disabled = true;
       $('#error').text('');
       google.script.run
               .withSuccessHandler((numTranslatedElements, element) =>{
                 element.disabled = false;
                 if (numTranslatedElements === 0) {
                   $('#error').empty()
                           .append('Did you select elements to translate?')
                           .append('<br/>')
                           .append('Please select slides or individual elements.');
                 }
                 return false;
               })
               .withFailureHandler((msg, element)=> {
                 element.disabled = false;
                 $('#error').text('Something went wrong. Please check the add-on logs.');
                 return false;
               })
               .withUserObject(this)
               .translateSelectedElements($('input[name=dest]:checked').val());
     }
   </script>
   </body>
   </html>

Run the script

1. In your Slides presentation, reload the page.
2. Click Extensions > Translate Slides > Start. It might take several seconds for the add-on menu item to appear.
3. When prompted, authorize the add-on.
4. Again, click Extensions > Translate Slides > Start.
5. Add text to your presentation and select it.
6. In the add-on, click Translate to replace the selected text.

Next steps

• Extending Google Slides with Apps Script
• Slides service reference