Google Slides Not Working? Common Errors & Fixes

Error 5 usually appears on Google Drive videos and is caused by browser cache, extensions, hardware acceleration or sharing settings. Clearing cache and testing in an incognito window fixes most cases.

Error 150 affects YouTube videos only: the owner disabled embedding or the video is restricted. Upload your own copy to Google Drive and insert that instead.

Slides that won't open, load forever or show 'Trying to connect' or 'Something went wrong' are usually caused by the connection, full storage, offline data, extensions or a Google outage. Try incognito and check the status dashboard first.

Presenter view and full screen can't run together on one monitor, and multi-monitor presenting needs Chrome plus the multi-display permission. Use Presentation display options with a second screen.

Audio in Slides must come from Drive, browsers block autoplay until you click, audio stops on slide change by default, and viewers need access to the file. Fix playback options and sharing.

Offline mode needs Chrome or Edge (not incognito), the Google Docs Offline extension and setup while online, and only one account per browser profile. Google's fixes are reloading, clearing site data and re-enabling offline.

Importing .pptx into Slides swaps custom fonts, drops Morph, Zoom and complex animations, and can break masters. Use standard fonts, rebuild effects and keep the original file.

Lag usually comes from large images, GIFs and videos, heavy extensions or Firefox. Compress images, trim GIFs and test in Chrome.

Black screens and slides that don't advance for viewers come from sharing the wrong window or missing screen recording permission. Share the Slides tab itself and re-share if it freezes.

Images fail when the format isn't PNG, JPEG or GIF, the file is too large, or a URL isn't public. Convert, shrink or upload through Drive.

Failed downloads usually come from multiple signed-in accounts, extensions or very large decks. Use File > Download, sign out of extra accounts and try a clean profile.

The message means your signed-in account has no access. Switch to the right account, request access, or ask the owner to share with that exact address.