Lightboxes

Lightboxes let viewers open an image or video in a large overlay without leaving the current slide. Use them to reveal a detailed image, offer an optional video, or add interactive supporting material without crowding the slide.

Add a lightbox

  1. Select any content block.
  2. Enable Lightbox in the block toolbar.
  3. Choose the image or video that should open.
  4. Select Preview to test the lightbox.

When you enable a lightbox on an existing image or video, Slides uses that media as the lightbox content by default. You can keep it or select different media.

The Lightbox controls let you replace the media, choose how it fits, and preview the result.

A closer view of the Lightbox media, fit mode, and preview controls

Choose what opens

The element viewers click does not need to match the media that opens. For example, text can open a video, a shape can reveal an image, or a small thumbnail can open a different high-resolution image.

The clickable element can be an image, video, text, shape, line, arrow, or freehand drawing. The lightbox itself can display an image or video from your media library or from an external URL.

A video playing in a lightbox after being opened from a text block

Control how media fits

Use Fit mode to control how the media fills the available space:

  • Scale down reduces large media when needed without enlarging smaller media.
  • Contain scales the media up or down so the entire image or video remains visible.
  • Cover fills the lightbox and crops any overflow.

Select Preview while editing to check the result. When someone views or presents the deck, selecting the configured block opens the media in an overlay. They can close it with the close button or Esc.

An image enlarged in a lightbox overlay with close controls in the upper-right corner

For more about the media you can use, see Images and Videos.