What people complain about in Google Slides

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.
• Automated reporting platform that connects to marketing data sources and generates polished client reports with minimal manual effort
• 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
• 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
• Integrated education platform that combines multiple classroom tools into one interface
• Workflow automation that reduces manual app switching during teaching sessions
• Education-focused slide maker with built-in cute templates and interactive elements for daily routines

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
• build something custom each month or reuse a template in Google Slides/Docs
• 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
• uses USB drive to load content onto TV
• creates slides in Canva and displays manually
• uses Google Slides and sets TV to auto-play
• constantly switching between Google Classroom, Gmail, PowerSchool, Google Docs, and Google Slides
• uses Google Slides but feels other teachers have cuter ones with more space

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.

  4High
  Education·Intellectual Property Protection·CreatorSafe

• Teachers 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.

  3Medium
  Education·User Experience·SlideMagic for Teachers

• Small marketing agency owners and freelancers spend excessive time creating monthly client reports, lacking a streamlined tool.

  3Medium
  Marketing & Advertising·Reporting & Analytics·ReportFlow

• A 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.

  3Medium
  Education·Document Management·LessonVault Planner

• Store owners find it difficult to manage in-store digital signage content simply and reliably day-to-day.

  3Medium
  Retail·Content Management·MenuLoop

• Teachers waste significant time switching between multiple disconnected educational apps throughout the school day.

  3Medium
  Education·Workflow Management·EduFlow Connect

• Teachers struggle to create visually appealing and spacious morning/daily routine slides using generic tools like Google Slides.

  2Mild
  Education·Lesson Planning·MorningSlide Maker