Quick-start Guide: Data from a Spreadsheet

Generate a slide deck from a spreadsheet in these simple steps.

Step 1. Connect a Data Source

Slideform can pull in any data from a linked spreadsheet (charts, images, videos, text or numeric values, & pre-formatted tables) for use in your slides. Select your dashboard platform below for specific connection instructions.

• Connect your Airtable
• Connect Excel
• Connect Google Sheets: First, Authenticate with Google to easily pull in your Sheet.

Once the data source is connected, visit the Data Sources page to view the captured data. See Manage Data Sources for details.

Step 2. Upload a Template

To create a slide deck template, make a copy of a prior version of your report and identify the fields that change from one version to another, such as charts, data tables, metrics, client names, and images. Replace these elements with placeholders that will be filled in from a data source.

If you use Google Slides, Authenticate with Google to easily pull in your template.

Once the template is ready, go to New Project, select your template, and Save.

Frequently-used placeholders:

• Charts, images, & videos: Create a shape on the slide to hold the chart, then double-click inside the shape and type in the placeholder to identify the data type, like {{chart:name}} , {{image:name}} , or {{video:name}} .
  
• Data tables: Create a shape on the slide to hold the table, then double-click inside the shape and type in the placeholder like {{data:name}}.
• Text, numbers, KPIs: Create a placeholder with the font, size, and color that you want in the output. 

See How to Create a Slide Deck Template for more details.

Step 3. Match Data to Template

The last part of setup is to link data from connected data sources to each placeholder in your slide template.

First, go to Configure Data > Data Sources tab and enable the data source for this project.

Data Types: 

• Charts: Find the placeholder and click Preset a Value. Select the data source and chart from the dropdown menus.
  
• Data tables: Find the placeholder and click Preset a Value. Select the data source and "Query Data Source". Select the sheet that contains the value, and specify the cell range of the table, such as A2:D26, in the Query box.
• Numbers or KPIs: Find the placeholder and click Preset a Value. Select the data source. 
  • For data lookups: Select "Use Predefined Metric". Select the sheet that contains the value. In the "Select your KPI" dropdown, choose the correct data column. Use filters to look up the exact value that you want to include.
  • To pull data from a specific cell: Select "Query Data Source". Select the sheet that contains the value and enter the cell location, such as A26, in the Query box. 
• Images & videos: Slideform can pull in inline images from Google Sheets, or can pull images and videos from publicly-accessible URLs in your sheet. 
  Go to Configure Data for your project and click Preset a Value on the placeholder. Select the data source. Just like with numbers, you can either specify the exact cell to pull the image or URL from, or perform a data lookup.

Many other types of data can be inserted as well, see How to Configure the Data Mapping for more details.

Step 4. Generate a Presentation

To create output, go to the Projects page and click Generate on the project card. 

If any placeholders were not mapped to data, you will have the opportunity to either fill them in or skip them. See How to Generate a Presentation for more details.

You can save the output as either PowerPoint, Google Slides, or pdf. The output will then be available to view or download from the Downloads section of the Projects page.