Google’s Workspace appsmake for some fantastic productivity tools considering how easy to use they are. The other major advantage of using Docs, Sheets, and Slides is that you’re able to collaborate with just about anyone with a Google account, which pretty much everybody has these days. Google Slides is getting even better at collaborations with a new feature that lets you see cursor movements and the changes others are making to the presentation in real time.
The search giant announced that it is adding a new way for you to see what your co-creators are doing in Slides. While Slides currently shows other active users’ profile pictures at the top,Google is expanding theseto let you track even their cursor movements on the screen. As you can see in the animation below, live pointers are assigned different colors and have name labels attached to them for quick identification of the user making the change.
These pointer movements will appear in real time on your screen. Even though it may look cluttered, especially when you have a bunch of people working simultaneously, you will at least get to see what each of the users is up to. And these live pointers further make it easy for all collaborators to point at whatever they want to highlight without a lot of back and forth in chat.
Google mentioned that this new live pointer feature has already begun rolling out and will reach end users within a couple of weeks. And you don’t necessarily need to be on a paid Workspace account to get this feature as even personal Google accounts are eligible for this brand-new way of collaboration.
The company has made sure that others aren’t able to see your mouse cursor activity unless you have explicitly allowed it. It is turned off by default, but you can allow it by going to theLive pointersoption under theViewmenu at the top and hittingshow my pointer. Only after this will your co-creators get to see your pointer on their end in real time. And if you want to hide all the cursors while presenting, you can do that manually from the sameLive pointerssetting or Google Slides can do that automatically for you as soon as you enter the presentation mode.
Last month, Google Slides got another interesting feature that allows you toannotate your slides with a penwhile presenting. Using this, you may draw people’s attention to an important piece of information on the screen. These changes come around the same time Google is planning to giveDocs, Sheets, and Slides a major makeoveron Android, making them look much better on your phone and even thetop Android tablets.
