Google Slides has a built-in PDF export, but getting your presentation to look professional in PDF form takes more configuration than you would expect. Here is how to use Google's export properly — including speaker notes and specific slide ranges — plus a faster alternative for published presentations.
Free — 3 PDFs per month. No credit card required.
Two methods: direct download and print settings.
The fastest method for a basic PDF export of your entire presentation.
This method exports all slides in order, one slide per page, without speaker notes. It is the simplest approach but offers no customization.
For speaker notes, specific slide ranges, and layout options.
Google Slides embeds Google Fonts reliably in PDF exports. Custom fonts you uploaded may not embed correctly and can be substituted with fallback fonts in the PDF. Before a critical export, switch any custom fonts to their closest Google Fonts equivalent to ensure consistent rendering.
The export works, but presentations and PDFs have fundamental tensions.
Exporting with speaker notes adds each note as a separate section below its slide, effectively doubling the document length. A 20-slide presentation becomes a 40-page PDF. There is no way to export notes as a compact appendix or separate document.
All animations, builds, and transitions are lost in PDF export. If you use animated bullet points that appear one at a time, the PDF shows all bullets at once. Complex builds that reveal content progressively are flattened to their final state.
Google Slides can use custom fonts you upload, but these may not embed correctly in the PDF. The result is font substitution — your carefully chosen typeface gets replaced with a fallback that changes the look of every slide.
Text-heavy slides sometimes shift during PDF export. Text boxes may overflow, images may reposition slightly, and precise alignments can break. What looks perfect in the Slides editor does not always translate exactly to the PDF output.
The PDF output inherits the presentation's own theme. There is no way to apply a different template specifically for the PDF export — no control over fonts, margins, or typography beyond what the presentation theme provides.
For published presentations, Pretty PDF produces cleaner, more professional output.
Go to File > Share > Publish to web in Google Slides. This creates a public URL for your presentation that can be viewed in any browser without a Google account.
Open the published presentation URL in Chrome and click the Pretty PDF icon. The extension extracts the slide content, removing Google's presentation controls and interface chrome.
The Corporate template works particularly well for presentation content. Click Generate PDF for a polished document with embedded fonts and professional formatting.
| Feature | Google Slides Export | Pretty PDF |
|---|---|---|
| Presentation export | Native — good fidelity | Captures published view |
| Speaker notes | Included (doubles page count) | Not captured from published view |
| Templates | Inherits presentation theme | 5 professional PDF templates |
| Font embedding | Custom fonts may fail | Embedded Fraunces + Instrument Sans |
| Custom branding | None beyond theme | Logo, headers, footers (Pro) |
Free — 3 PDFs per month. No credit card required.
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