Class Selection

AI-generated Key Takeaways

• The Selection object represents the current selection in an active presentation.

• You can get the currently active page, selected page elements, selected pages in the filmstrip, selected table cells, or selected text range using methods like getCurrentPage(), getPageElementRange(), getPageRange(), getTableCellRange(), and getTextRange().

• The type of the current selection can be determined using the getSelectionType() method.

Selection

The user's selection in the active presentation.

const selection = SlidesApp.getActivePresentation().getSelection();
const currentPage = selection.getCurrentPage();
const selectionType = selection.getSelectionType();

Methods

Method	Return type	Brief description
getCurrentPage()	Page	Returns the currently active Page or null if there is no active page.
getPageElementRange()	PageElementRange	Returns the PageElementRange collection of PageElement instances that are selected or null if there are no PageElement instances selected.
getPageRange()	PageRange	Returns the PageRange a collection of Page instances in the flimstrip that are selected or null if the selection is not of type SelectionType.PAGE.
getSelectionType()	SelectionType	Returns the SelectionType.
getTableCellRange()	TableCellRange	Returns the TableCellRange collection of TableCell instances that are selected or null if there are no TableCell instances selected.
getTextRange()	TextRange	Returns the TextRange that is selected or null if the selection is not of type SelectionType.TEXT.

Detailed documentation

getCurrentPage()

Returns the currently active Page or null if there is no active page.

const selection = SlidesApp.getActivePresentation().getSelection();
const currentPage = selection.getCurrentPage();
if (currentPage != null) {
  Logger.log(`Selected current active page ID: ${currentPage.getObjectId()}`);
}

Return

Page

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/presentations.currentonly
• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/presentations

---

getPageElementRange()

Returns the PageElementRange collection of PageElement instances that are selected or null if there are no PageElement instances selected.

const selection = SlidesApp.getActivePresentation().getSelection();
const selectionType = selection.getSelectionType();
if (selectionType === SlidesApp.SelectionType.PAGE_ELEMENT) {
  const currentPage = selection.getCurrentPage();
  const pageElements = selection.getPageElementRange().getPageElements();
  Logger.log(`Number of page elements selected: ${pageElements.length}`);
}

Return

PageElementRange

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/presentations.currentonly
• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/presentations

---

getPageRange()

Returns the PageRange a collection of Page instances in the flimstrip that are selected or null if the selection is not of type SelectionType.PAGE.

const selection = SlidesApp.getActivePresentation().getSelection();
const selectionType = selection.getSelectionType();
if (selectionType === SlidesApp.SelectionType.PAGE) {
  const pageRange = selection.getPageRange();
  Logger.log(
      `Number of pages in the flimstrip selected: ${
          pageRange.getPages().length}`,
  );
}

Return

PageRange

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/presentations.currentonly
• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/presentations

---

getSelectionType()

Returns the SelectionType.

const selection = SlidesApp.getActivePresentation().getSelection();
const selectionType = selection.getSelectionType();
if (selectionType === SlidesApp.SelectionType.CURRENT_PAGE) {
  const currentPage = selection.getCurrentPage();
  Logger.log(`Selected current active page ID: ${currentPage.getObjectId()}`);
}

Return

SelectionType

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/presentations.currentonly
• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/presentations

---

getTableCellRange()

Returns the TableCellRange collection of TableCell instances that are selected or null if there are no TableCell instances selected.

const selection = SlidesApp.getActivePresentation().getSelection();
const selectionType = selection.getSelectionType();
if (selectionType === SlidesApp.SelectionType.TABLE_CELL) {
  const currentPage = selection.getCurrentPage();
  const tableCells = selection.getTableCellRange().getTableCells();
  const table = tableCells[0].getParentTable();
  Logger.log(`Number of table cells selected: ${tableCells.length}`);
}

Return

TableCellRange

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/presentations.currentonly
• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/presentations

---

getTextRange()

Returns the TextRange that is selected or null if the selection is not of type SelectionType.TEXT.

The TextRange represents two scenarios:

1. Range of text selected. For example if a shape has text "Hello", and "He" is selected, the returned range has TextRange.getStartIndex() = 0, and TextRange.getEndIndex() = 2.

2. Cursor position. For example if a shape has text "Hello", and cursor is after "H", ("H|ello"), the returned range has TextRange.getStartIndex() = 1 and TextRange.getEndIndex() = 1.

const selection = SlidesApp.getActivePresentation().getSelection();
const selectionType = selection.getSelectionType();
if (selectionType === SlidesApp.SelectionType.TEXT) {
  const currentPage = selection.getCurrentPage();
  const pageElement = selection.getPageElementRange().getPageElements()[0];
  const textRange = selection.getTextRange();
  Logger.log(`Text selected: ${textRange.asString()}`);
}

Return

TextRange

Authorization

Scripts that use this method require authorization with one or more of the following scopes:

• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/presentations.currentonly
• https://www.googleapis.com/auth/presentations