NEWFree Chrome extension
Keep your slides in Canva, Google Slides or PowerPoint Online. Just talk, and the extension clicks to the next slide once you've covered your points. Your animations and transitions play exactly as you made them.
How it works
The same listener as the Onword app, working inside the site where your slides already are.
Open your presentation, click the Onword button in Chrome's toolbar, then click Start listening.
Click Present in Canva, Google Slides or PowerPoint. A small panel shows the points on the slide and ticks them off as you say them.
Once you've covered every point and paused, it counts down and clicks Next. The next animation or slide plays, just like with a clicker.
App or extension?
Both listen the same way. Pick the one that fits where your slides are.
| Chrome extension | The app | |
|---|---|---|
| Your slides stay in | Canva, Google Slides or PowerPoint Online | The app (you add a PowerPoint, PDF or Canva download) |
| Canva animations | Yes, all of them, because Canva plays them | No, Canva downloads leave them out. You get the app's own transitions |
| PowerPoint animations | Yes | Yes |
| "Next slide", "go back", "wait" | Yes | Yes |
| "Skip 3 slides", "go back 2 slides" | Yes | Yes, and "go to slide 5" |
| Practice score, captions, phone remote, Q&A | Not yet | Yes |
| Install | One minute, below | Nothing to install |
Want to practice first? Practice in the app, then present from Canva with the extension.
Install
It's on its way to the Chrome Web Store. Until then, add it to Chrome yourself like this. You only do it once.
Click Download the extension, then double-click the downloaded file. On a Mac that makes a folder called onword-extension. On Windows, right-click the file, choose Extract All, then Extract. Keep the folder somewhere you won't delete it, like Documents.
Type chrome://extensions in the address bar and press Enter. In Microsoft Edge, type edge://extensions.
Click the Developer mode switch at the top right. In Edge it's on the left.
Click Load unpacked at the top left, pick the onword-extension folder, and click Select.
Onword now shows up in your list of extensions.
Click the puzzle piece to the right of the address bar, then click the pin next to Onword. Its button stays in your toolbar from now on.
Present
Click the Onword button in the toolbar, then Start listening. The first time, Chrome asks to use your microphone. Click Allow.
The panel in the bottom left corner shows the points on the slide that's showing. Click – to shrink it to a small dot that your audience will hardly notice.
Each point ticks off as you say it, in your own words too. When they're all ticked and you pause, it counts down and moves on. Say "wait" to stay, "next slide" to skip ahead, or "go back". To jump, say "skip 3 slides" or "go back 2 slides".
Click × on the panel, or press Option+Shift+H on a Mac (Alt+Shift+H on Windows). The same keys start it, even in full screen.
Google Slides and PowerPoint Online work the same way: open the presentation, click Start listening, then Slideshow or Present.
Yes, completely.
It's on its way there. Once it's in the store, installing it will take a single click. Until then, the steps above add it to Chrome yourself, and it works just the same.
It reads the text on the slide that's showing. Each line or bullet becomes a point, and the big title doesn't count. If a slide has no text, like a photo, it moves on once you've talked and paused.
Yes. The extension presses Next the way a clicker does, so Canva, Google Slides or PowerPoint plays every animation and transition itself. When an animation brings in new text, its points are added to the slide.
Check that the panel's dot is green, which means it's listening. Then click once on your slides, so the slide show has your keyboard, and say "next slide" to test it. If the microphone is blocked, click the icon at the left of the address bar and set Microphone to Allow.
If you share or mirror your screen, yes. Shrink it to a dot with the – button, or switch on "Keep the panel small" in the extension's settings.
Only if your school allows extensions you add yourself. Many school Chromebooks turn Developer mode off. Ask your teacher or IT admin, or use the app, which needs no install.
It reads only the slide that's showing, and only after you click Start listening. Nothing is sent to us. Like the app, Chrome sends your voice to its own speech service to turn it into text. The AI that understands your own words runs on your computer. Read the privacy page.
Free. Works in Chrome and Edge.