Why there's no "Insert Poll" button — and why that's fine
Google doesn't build live polling into Slides, and most third-party add-ons only work inside the Slides editor itself, not on the big screen once you hit Present. PollSlide sidesteps the whole question: a live poll, quiz or survey question just becomes a small QR image that you paste onto a slide like a picture. Google Slides already knows how to show a picture. That's the entire integration.
It's the same method PollSlide uses for Keynote and PowerPoint, because it's the one method that's guaranteed to keep working no matter which slide tool you're standing in front of a room with.
How it works with Google Slides
Five minutes end to end, and you never leave your browser.
- Build your question in PollSlide. Write it yourself, or give Polly a topic, a PDF or your notes and let it draft the questions, answers and matching images.
- Open the question's live view and click "Copy QR box for slide." This copies a ready-made QR image to your clipboard.
- Switch to your Google Slides tab and paste it (Cmd/Ctrl+V) onto the slide where you want it. It lands as a normal image object — drag it to a corner, resize it, and it stays exactly where you leave it, just like any picture you'd paste into Slides.
- Present your Google Slides deck the way you always do — full screen, Presenter view, whatever your usual habit is. Nothing else about your deck changes.
- When that slide is on screen, your audience scans the QR with their phone's camera (or opens pollslide.com/join and types the short code) and answers right in their phone's own browser. No app, no account.
- Watch the results come in live — in a second browser tab, on your phone, or on a laptop off to the side — while the Google Slides window the room is looking at never changes.
What you need
- A Google account with edit access to the Slides deck
- A free PollSlide account — no credit card to start
- Your audience's own phones, with a camera and a browser
- Wifi or mobile data in the room so phones can reach the join page
Why this beats switching to a different tool
📎 Your deck stays your deck
No import, no rebuilding slides in a new editor — the QR is just a picture you paste into the Google Slides file you already made.
📱 Zero install for the room
Scan and answer in the phone's own browser. No app store, no login, no account for anyone in the audience.
🌍 Works everywhere Slides works
Chromebook, Windows, Mac, or a shared classroom login — if Google Slides opens there, this works there.
✨ Questions drafted for you
Give Polly a topic, a PDF or your notes and it drafts questions, answers and matching images to paste straight into your deck.
Questions
Do I need to install a Google Slides add-on or plugin?
No. PollSlide has built a Google Slides add-on, but it hasn't been submitted or published yet, so there's nothing to install today. Copy the QR box from PollSlide and paste it onto any slide in the browser — that already works with zero setup, for you or your audience.
Does this work on Windows, Mac and Chromebook?
Yes. Google Slides runs entirely in the browser, so the QR-on-slide method works the same way on Windows, macOS, Linux and ChromeOS. Your audience only needs a phone with a camera and a browser — no app, no account.
Is PollSlide free to use with Google Slides?
Yes. The free plan runs full sessions with up to 25 participants, 3 saved presentations and 5 Polly AI question generations a month, with no credit card required. Paid plans lift those limits.
Will the QR code cover part of my slide?
No. Once pasted, it's a normal image, so you can resize it and drag it into a corner like any picture in Google Slides. Keep it large enough that phones at the back of the room can still focus on it.
Is there a difference between using this with Google Slides, PowerPoint or Keynote?
The QR-on-slide method is the same everywhere, since it's just a picture pasted onto a slide. A native PowerPoint add-in is in review with Microsoft and isn't installable yet, and Keynote has no third-party plugin ecosystem, so PollSlide's free Mac companion app floats live results over a Keynote deck automatically instead. Google Slides needs neither, since it's already a browser-based tool you can paste straight into.