What people complain about in Google Slides
9 reported problems name Google Slides as what the person is currently using. Below is what they said was missing, and what they resorted to instead.
- Complaints
- 9
- Avg severity
- 3.0/5
- Would pay to fix
- 0
- Industries
- 3
What they wish it did
Capabilities people described needing that Google Slides does not give them, taken from the highest-scoring problems first. These are individual accounts written in each person’s own terms, so two entries may describe the same underlying gap in different words.
- A lesson authoring platform that guarantees content ownership and easy export to standard formats
- A tool that prevents platforms from locking or watermarking user-created content retroactively
- AI-powered design assistant that automatically styles educational slide decks for young audiences.
- Digital planner with flexible, expandable layout to prevent clutter when adding detailed plans
- Grading and record-keeping integrated with daily lesson plans
- Affordable planner with permanent access to historical plans even after unsubscribing
- Automated reporting platform that connects to marketing data sources and generates polished client reports with minimal manual effort
- Cloud-based digital signage with remote updates from any device
- Scheduled content rotation without manual intervention
- Simple, purpose-built tool eliminating need for manual USB or slide management
- Education-focused slide maker with built-in cute templates and interactive elements for daily routines
- Integrated education platform that combines multiple classroom tools into one interface
- Workflow automation that reduces manual app switching during teaching sessions
- Interactive letter tiles with customizable letter sets for phonics
- Whole-class board tool with drag-and-drop in present mode
What they do instead
The manual processes people built around the gap. A long workaround list is the strongest evidence a problem is real: someone is already paying for it in time. Where several people described the same workaround, it is marked.
- took a physical photo of my screen with my phone because screenshot tools were blocked
- exported lessons and completely recreated them from scratch over a week
- manually scrubbing watermarked curriculum from the website
- uses Google Slides as makeshift digital planner
- trying to fit detailed plans onto slides causing jumble
- considering paper planner alongside Google Slides for more detail
- build something custom each month or reuse a template in Google Slides/Docs
- uses USB drive to load content onto TV
- creates slides in Canva and displays manually
- uses Google Slides and sets TV to auto-play
- uses Google Slides but feels other teachers have cuter ones with more space
- constantly switching between Google Classroom, Gmail, PowerSchool, Google Docs, and Google Slides
- Makes Google Slides with letters and moves them around in edit mode
- Tried Toy Theater but can't limit letters
The problems themselves
Highest opportunity score first.
Teachers are losing control of their original curriculum content due to Nearpod (now owned by Renaissance) watermarking and locking user-created lessons, forcing hours of manual extraction and recreation.
4HighEducationIntellectual Property ProtectionCreatorSafeTeachers with no design skills struggle to make Google Slides presentations visually engaging for young students, resulting in boring, black-and-white slides that kids dislike.
3MediumEducationUser ExperienceSlideMagic for TeachersTeacher needs a free or affordable alternative to Nearpod that can push Google Slides to student devices slide-by-slide.
3MediumEducationInstructional Tools & TechnologySlideSync ProA teacher struggles to fit detailed lesson plans into digital slides without them becoming cluttered, and dislikes paid tools like Planbook that lock users out of their historical plans if they stop subscribing.
3MediumEducationDocument ManagementLessonVault PlannerSmall marketing agency owners and freelancers spend excessive time creating monthly client reports, lacking a streamlined tool.
3MediumMarketing & AdvertisingReporting & AnalyticsReportFlowStore owners find it difficult to manage in-store digital signage content simply and reliably day-to-day.
3MediumRetailContent ManagementMenuLoopTeachers struggle to create visually appealing and spacious morning/daily routine slides using generic tools like Google Slides.
2MildEducationLesson PlanningMorningSlide MakerTeachers waste significant time switching between multiple disconnected educational apps throughout the school day.
3MediumEducationWorkflow ManagementEduFlow ConnectTeacher needs an online interactive alphabet tiles tool with customizable letter sets for whole-class phonics activities.
3MediumEducationTeaching Materials & PlanningLetterLab
Read this fairly
These are complaints, and only complaints — nobody posts to say their software worked. A high count mostly reflects how many people use Google Slides at all, so this page is not a quality judgement and should not be read as one. What it is good for is the shape of the gaps: the specific jobs people could not get done, which are the same whether the tool is popular or not.