How to do I create links to slides based on the slide's position in the presentation?

Question

I create direct links to various Google slides in my presentation.

For example, to link to slide 2 in my presentation I create a URL of the form <baseURL>/edit#slide=id.p2.

If I happen to duplicate that slide 2 I sometimes find that the original link <baseURL>/edit#slide=id.p2 no longer points to slide 2 but is now pointing to a different slide number.

It appears that the p2 is mapped to an internal ID rather than to the slide in position 2.

I don't want to have to regularly double-check the links as this is time-consuming and error-prone. I would be okay changing the internal ID of the slides but haven't found a way.

How do I format the URL so it always points to slide 2 regardless of the slide's internal ID?

Answer 1

After a ton of Google searches, trying different things, and just dumb luck, I found what seems like an undocumented approach. The trick is to not use the ID at all, but rather the actual slide number.

The URL therefore becomes: <baseURL>/edit#slide=2

Using that URL format causes Google Slides to map that number to the internal ID for the slide in that position and update/rewrite the URL in the address bar to reflect this.

The rewritten URL now includes the slide's internal ID so bookmarking that URL and following it will result in the original issue if the associated slide is ever moved or removed.