Creating an Easy, Free Newsletter in Google Slides (Perfect for Phone Viewing!)

This past school year, I put out a newsletter for staff each Friday to help keep them updated and informed about things happening in the Library. I used Wakelet for this. Wakelet is a free tool that I enjoy and has a lot of potential for classrooms, but there were some limitations. Mainly, I couldn't always make things look the way I wanted. I ended up making a lot of graphics and images outside of Wakelet and then importing them, creating an extra step. I've also used smore in the past. Now smore makes some beautiful newsletters and is pretty user-friendly overall, but there is the subscription cost associated with this. This year I also heard some chatter around my campus from teachers regarding a need for grade level or class newsletters. So, I found myself on a mission. I wanted to find a newsletter solution for myself and teachers that met the following criteria:

• FREE! We spend money on so many things, if this could NOT be one of them, that would be great.
• Visually appealing
• Easily customizable
• Simplistic navigation
• Mobile viewing! (How often do we open a link on our phones? And how frustrating is it when you can't see it all properly? I think being easily viewed on phones and mobile devices is a major requirement when connecting with our families and making our information accessible!

After thinking this over and trying to come up with something that satisfied all my requirements, I decided to give Google Slides a shot. And I'm pretty happy with the results! Here is a super basic template of what I came up with. As you can see, it is easy to view on a computer, but it is also the perfect size for viewing on your phone. Below, I will give you step-by-step directions for creating your own and give you a copy of what I've created if you want to just start there. 

Step One: Create your SlideOpen a new Google Slides document. Start by formatting the slide size. Under the file menu, choose "Page Setup." Next, in the dropdown box, select "Custom". Change the units to "Pixels" and change the dimension to 360 x 740. Then click "Apply."

Step Two: Create your ContentThis is where you can be creative! Create your "newsletter" in any way that makes sense for your purpose. Customize your background, your fonts, add images, whatever your heart desires. Just remember not to clutter it up too much so that it will be easily viewable. You will likely need multiple pages. Once you have one page set up in a way that you like, you can right-click it in the left navigation bar and select "Duplicate slide." Then your formatting will be the same and you can make changes as needed. Remember to keep the most important information on your front page, and make this your navigation base. The reader should be able to know what's included and get to what they need from here. Also, consider what information will be consistent from issue to issue. These are resources your newsletter contains that the reader can count on. In my template, for instance, the "Class Info" will always stay the same aside from the "Spotlight" section. The reader can also count on there being links to familiar extra resources in that section and I would always leave the district calendar linked in the "Upcoming Dates" section. 

Step Three: Create your NaviagtionNow this step is not strictly necessary. The reader could very easily just tap through the slides and they WILL be able to get to all of your content. But this is all about ease of access. So think about how different users might want to navigate. I included two methods of navigation, direct links and navigation buttons.
Direct LinksFor direct links, simply highlight anything on your main page you want to make into a direct link. After highlighting, hit "Ctrl + K" and select "Slides in this presentation" from the bottom of the menu. Then select the corresponding slide for that heading. In this example, I have highlighted Event 2 and would link it to the corresponding page once I had created it. 

To change a link you've already created, simply click on it and choose the pencil to edit the link or the broken link to remove the link altogether.

Navigation Buttons

To create navigation buttons, first find the icons you would like to use for your buttons. I selected my arrows and home icon from Flaticon. I created an empty text box at the bottom of my newsletter and selected a slightly lighter shade for the background. You could also do this by inserting a shape. This becomes my navigation bar. I first inserted the home icon, sized and placed it where I wanted and linked it to slide 1. (Click the icon and then "Ctrl + K" again just like in the direct links.) Then select the icon and copy it (Ctrl + C). Go to each of your other slides and paste it (Ctrl + V). The icon will carry over with the link still attached. 

Next, add in your directional arrows. For these, instead of choosing a specific slide number when you are linking, select "Next Slide" for your forward arrow and "Previous Slide" for your back arrow. Repeat the same directions you did with the home icon. 

Your navigation is complete!

Step Four: Prepare for Pulishing
Publish to the WebIn my first iteration of this template, I chose the "Publish to the web" option. You can see that here. Now, this works fairly well and is simple because all you have to do is copy and paste the link and you don't have to worry about the sharing settings. But it does have some drawbacks. In this option, there is no way to hide or remove the menu that pops up in the bottom left corner. This is not a problem whatsoever on a computer or larger device, but on a small phone when trying to hit some of the links you end up getting the menu instead. This is a minor inconvenience and, as previously stated, you can get through the whole presentation by simply clicking through, so this may not be a deterrent to you. To publish to the web, click "File" in the menu and choose, "Publish to the web." I unchecked the option to start the slideshow automatically so that it isn't just flipping pages as your user is attempting to read. All you have to do now is highlight the link provided and share it with your readers. 

Preview PresentationIn the end, I decided to go with the preview presetnation view. That is what you see embedded at the top of this article and here. I did this after seeking feedback and getting advice from my fabulous colleagues in the Learning Librarians group on Facebook. I also watched this YouTube video to see how to remove the navigation bar that is usually visible in a Slides present view. First, click the "Share" button in the upper right hand corner. At the bottom there is a "Copy Link" button. IMPORTANT: Before you click that though, you will need to change the settings. There is a link you can press right under where it says "Restricted." Click this and change it so that is says "Anyone with the link" can view. If you forget this step, your reader will not be able to see your presentation. 

After chaning the permissions, click the "Copy Link" button and paste it into your web browser, but do not click enter. The last portion of the web address after the last / will say edit?usp=sharing. Highlight this portion and delete it. In this space type in preview?rm=minimal. Don't hit enter yet! Select the whole web address and copy it. This is the web address you will share with your readers.

Share with ReadersWhether you choose publishing to the web or the preview option, the web address will be lengthy. Consider this when you decide how to share with your readers. You may want to create a bit.ly to shorten it up and make it more friendly. Some districts do have bit.ly shorteners blocked, so beware of that before you decide. You can also just hyperlink it in your email as I have in this post. Just highlight your keyword, maybe newsletter, and use "Ctrl + K" to add a link. Your reader can easily click on it without having to see how long and messy it is! One last option is to include a QR code. This might be good if you want to post it on a bulletin board or something like that. This is now super easy in Google Chrome. If you click in the address bar, right next to the bookmark star, a shape with 4 small squares appears. Click on that and ~ VOILA ~ QR code. Just click the download button and print it out.

A Few Reminders

• Check your navigation. View your newsletter on your computer and on a mobile device before sharing to make sure everything works as you intend.
• Change your sharing permissions. If you use the preview presentation, do NOT forget to change these permissions to "Anyone with the link" can "view."
• Make a new copy each week. You likely want your reader to have continual access to previous newsletters. So each week (or however often you create your newletter), make a copy and then edit. Then repeat the publishing steps for this new version. If you do make edits to a current version, remember that they will be shown in real time. So if you delete a page and don't replace it and a reader goes to refer to your newsletter, they may not have the information they are looking for.

You can click here to get an editable copy of my template and work from there or you can create your own from scratch. Remember that in my template I have linked some items specific to my school. Don't forget to change these items out!
I'd love to hear if this is useful to you, so please share what you come up with! 
💗~K.