I recently detailed a technique for auto-generating a slideshow in Adobe InDesign using data from a spreadsheet. (This is great for awards ceremonies!) But wouldn’t it be cool if there were a way to do this completely within the “free” Google ecosystem? By using a tool called Google Apps Script, I determined that you can, in fact, accomplish the same thing with Google Sheets and Google Slides.
During the pandemic, virtual ceremonies often replaced in-person graduations, inductions, and other award ceremonies.
Creating a slideshow with awardees’ names and photos could add some visual interest, but depending on the size of the group, they could also take a long time to build.
In this tutorial, I walk readers through a method to automate this process using a spreadsheet and Adobe InDesign. The same techniques could also be used for any other resources, like certificates or photo directories, that require merging text and images from a list into a pre-made template.