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Google Slides: Get a slide thumbnail — MCP tool

Google Slides MCP tool: Renders one page (slide, layout or master) as a PNG.

Technical name: get_thumbnail

What task it solves

I want to see how a slide actually renders.

Renders one page (slide, layout or master) as a PNG.

When to use it

Use this capability when you need “Get a slide thumbnail” without doing the same work manually in the Google Slides interface. It runs only when an AI client calls it.

What to provide

  • presentation_id — required. The presentation id — the long id from the URL (docs.google.com/presentation/d/<presentationId>/edit) or from create_presentation output.
  • page_object_id — required. The slide's object id to render (from list_slides).
  • size — optional. Thumbnail width: large=1600px (default), medium=800px, small=200px.
  • output_path — optional. Local file path to save the PNG to; omitted = return the short-lived contentUrl.

What it returns

Returns compact JSON from the upstream API or a clear MCP tool error. The exact fields depend on the operation and are documented in the technical reference.

What changes in Google Slides

The tool reads Google Slides data and does not change it.

Example request

Get a slide thumbnail in Google Slides. Ask for any required identifiers that are missing.

Errors and limitations

Without output_path it returns contentUrl + width/height — the URL is short-lived (~30 minutes) and served from googleusercontent.com. With output_path the PNG is downloaded and saved to that local file instead (the download is restricted to Google's image hosts). size: large (1600px, default), medium (800px) or small (200px). This is the way to SEE what a slide actually looks like — the JSON never shows rendering. Counts as an expensive read in the API quota.

Access also depends on token permissions, quotas, and upstream API limits.

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Technical details