Google launches Slides API after teasing it in May

Google today announced the availability of its Google Slides application programming interface (API), which enables third-party tools to integrate with and and do things inside of the cloud-based Google Slides presentation-building service. Google announced that it was working on the API at its Google I/O developer conference in May.

“Now, your teams can use a number of ready-to-go integrations to turn your business data into presentations, with just a click,” Google G Suite product manager Vishnu Sivaji wrote in a blog post.

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Some of the first companies to use the API are Conga, Lucidchart, Trello, and Zapier. For example, in the case of Trello, you can take an existing board and turn it into a full presentation in Slides by clicking a single link, Trello product marketing manager Brian Cervino wrote in a blog post. And Zapier has a bunch of “Zaps” involving Google Slides, including the ability to refresh the data in a chart in an existing presentation or create a new presentation based on a previous one.

Additionally, in May Google demonstrated an integration of the Slides API into Salesforce’s SalesforceIQ tool. Google is also working with ProsperWorks, AODocs, and Form Publisher, Sivaji wrote.

The move to expose this sort of functionality follows the introduction of the Microsoft Graph, which provides a single API endpoint for multiple tools.

To enable the API, you’ll need to visit the Google Developers Console. Documentation for the new API is here.