Quick Answer: To draw while editing, use Insert → Line → Scribble — click, hold, and drag to draw freehand; release to finish, then restyle the stroke with the border color/weight buttons. To draw while presenting, start the slideshow and use the pen tool in the presenter toolbar (rolled out to Slides in recent years; if you don't see it, your admin or an older UI is the culprit — the Annotate-style add-ons cover the gap). For anything complex, sketch in Insert → Drawing's bigger canvas instead.
Drawing while editing: the Scribble tool
Google Slides' only freehand tool hides inside the line menu:
- Click the Line dropdown in the toolbar (or Insert → Line) and choose Scribble at the bottom.
- Click and hold on the slide, drag to draw, release to end the stroke. Each release finishes one scribble object.
- Select the stroke to restyle it: Border color for the ink, Border weight up to 24 px, Border dash for dashed strokes.
Scribbles are vector objects — they scale cleanly, group with other elements, and can be reordered like any shape. What they can't do: pressure sensitivity, smoothing, or multi-stroke lasso editing. A mouse scribble looks like a mouse scribble; with a stylus or touchscreen (Chromebook, iPad in the browser) the results improve dramatically.
For arrows, circles and callouts, skip Scribble — dedicated Insert → Shape arrows and ellipses always look cleaner than a drawn approximation.
Drawing while presenting: the pen and the add-ons
Presenting is where most people actually want to draw — circling a number mid-lecture, underlining the key clause.
- Built-in pen: in slideshow mode, the presenter toolbar includes a pen/annotation tool (alongside the laser pointer) in the current Slides experience. Annotations are temporary by default — they clear when you exit; look for the save option in the toolbar if your domain has it.
- Laser pointer: the toolbar's pointer (or press L) highlights without leaving marks — often all a talk needs.
- Add-ons: if your UI lacks the pen (older rollout, restricted Workspace domain), Marketplace tools like Annotate overlay a full ink toolbar on presentations, with saved annotations and highlighter colors.
- Hardware route: presenting on a touchscreen or via a tablet mirroring app gives you finger/stylus inking through the device rather than Slides itself.
Complex sketches: use a Drawing canvas
For diagrams with many strokes, Insert → Drawing wasn't removed from Docs' sibling apps by accident — in Slides the equivalent is creating the sketch in Google Drawings (drawings.google.com), then Insert → Image → Drive or plain copy-paste. You get a larger canvas, and the inserted drawing stays linked for re-editing.
Fully hand-drawn diagram culture (whiteboard-style) lives better in a dedicated canvas: draw in any whiteboard/notes app, export PNG with transparent background, and Insert → Image.
When the drawing is really a diagram
Half of "how do I draw on slides" searches are actually "I need a flowchart/timeline/annotated diagram and don't want to fight shape tools." That's a generation problem now: ChatSlide's AI diagram maker and AI chart maker produce clean flowcharts and data charts from a text description or spreadsheet, dropped straight into decks that export to Google Slides or editable PowerPoint. Scribble for the human touch; generate the rest.
FAQ
Is there a pen tool in Google Slides while editing? Only Scribble (Insert → Line → Scribble). It's a basic vector freehand tool — no pressure or smoothing.
Can I draw on Google Slides during a presentation? Yes — the presenter toolbar's pen annotates live in the current Slides UI, and add-ons like Annotate cover setups where it hasn't appeared. The laser pointer (press L) handles pointing without ink.
Do annotations save after presenting? Presenter-pen ink is temporary by default. To keep markup, draw with Scribble in edit mode, or use an add-on that saves annotations.
Can I use an Apple Pencil or stylus? Yes — in a browser on a touch device, Scribble follows the stylus. Latency depends on the device/browser more than on Slides.