When all the photos have been inserted and all the captions have been written, there is still more work to be done. At a minimum, the following items must be checked:

  • page numbers
  • captions
  • student names
  • commas and periods
  • position of photos
  • possible duplicates of photos

To do a good job proofreading, follow these directions so that your students can double and triple check their work.

Proofread

Before you send the yearbook draft to the publisher, make sure you and your students proofread it as a PDF. One year we had an issue with images not downloading, which meant that they would not print either. We determined that comments on images had not been resolved. Another year, the PDF version allowed us to take a close look at all the captions to see which ones needed to be revised.

Download as a PDF

  1. Select File.
  2. Click on Download as.
  3. Select PDF.
  4. The PDF will download in the lower left corner. Click on it to open the PDF in a new tab

Please note that viewing the PDF in the Chrome browser only allows you to view single pages. Read the next section for dual-page view.

Open in Adobe Acrobat and View as a Dual Page

Adobe Acrobat Reader is a free desktop software program. In the example to the right, a filler page was added to the front so that the yearbook spread (2-page view) can be viewed.

Proofread, Revise and Edit

Whichever method you use - single page in Chrome or dual-page in Adobe Acrobat - proofread the yearbook draft! Confirm that all photos and captions are properly placed. Then zoom in to read the captions. Make the necessary changes to the Google Slides.

Share Directly with Publisher

How you send the yearbook to be printed will depend on the publisher's requirements. As our district office prints our softbound yearbooks for us, we share the Google Slides directly with that department. If your yearbook is not too large, you can even combine the sections into one master and share it directly with the publisher. Directions to combine sections are listed below.

Share

  1. Click on Share.
  2. Type the publisher's email address.
  3. Write a short note with directions.
  4. Select Send.

Combine Sections into one Google Slides

My big plan for the 2017-2018 was to use this option. Theoretically, the plan was beautiful. Maybe someday it will work better. The problem was when our publisher used Download as  -> PDF (his preferred method), the 115+ page yearbook stalled while downloading. We believe this problem occurred because we used the high-resolution photo option in Google Photos.

Please note that the yearbook cover is downloaded as a separate file. This is because our publisher prints the cover on a larger cardstock and then trims it so that the color "bleeds" over the edge.

Link Yearbook Sections to a Master Slide Deck

  1. Use CTRL + A to select all slides.
  2. Right-click (two-finger touch on a Chromebook) on a slide to Copy (CTRL + C).
  3. Open a new Google Slides and call it "Yearbook Master Slide Deck."
  4. Paste (CTRL + V) the slides.
  5. Select Link slides.

Repeat steps 2-5 with the other sections. During the editing process, have students make changes on the original group slides and update the Master Slide Deck when done. There should be no problem with the page numbers in the Master Slide Deck, but it never hurts to double check.

Zoom in or out of Grid View

  1. Select the Grid view icon on the lower left corner.
  2. Use the - and + icons to zoom in or out.

I know that I have said this before, but wouldn't it be wonderful if Google morphed Google Slides and Google Photos Photo Books together? Then we could have a dual page view in a new graphic design app.

Downloading Error

The gif to the right demonstrates the error we received in Spring 2018 when our district office attempted to download the Google Slides as a PDF. The file was too large.

Download PDF error

Combine Sections into One PDF

When our first attempt to share and print the yearbook proof failed, we tried a different approach - combining yearbook sections in one single PDF.

Before downloading each yearbook section, make sure to double check the page numbers so that the numbers are consecutive. At this time, the page numbers will need to be manually changed.

Download as PDFs and Combine

  1. Download the individual Google Slides yearbook sections as PDFs.
  2. Go to combinepdf.com. Confirm that you are in the Combine PDF tab.
  3. Select Upload files.
  4. When all files have finished uploading, click on Combine.

A combined PDF of the entire yearbook will be downloaded to your computer.

Share Combined PDF with Publisher

You are almost done! Now upload the PDF to Google Drive and Share it with your publisher!

Upload PDF to Google Drive

  1. Open the folder where you created each Google Slides yearbook section. Select New.
  2. Click on File upload.
  3. Select the combined pdf.
  4. Select Open.

Share Proof (and later Final) Yearbook with Publisher

  1. Right-click on the combined PDF.
  2. Select Share.
  3. Type the publisher's email address and a message.
  4. Click Send.

Reminder

Ask the publisher to send you a "proof" of the yearbook before you mass publish it. All yearbooks - ones created in Google Slides or with an expensive yearbook company - need to be printed and viewed as a physical copy. Our yearbook class and a few adults on campus will read the physical "proof" before the yearbook goes for final print. No matter how careful we were during the first proofreading, we always find something to edit or revise. Mistakes need to be corrected before the final copy is printed.

Publisher

Who prints our yearbook? Who can print yours? Print locally if you can but if you can't, we have a list of publishers that you can use!

Read More