PPTX Processing

Overview

Work with PowerPoint presentations (.pptx files) for creation, editing, and analysis.

Reading & Analysis

Text Extraction

# Convert to markdown
pandoc presentation.pptx -t markdown -o output.md

Raw XML Access

# Unpack for direct access
unzip presentation.pptx -d presentation_unpacked/

Access comments, speaker notes, layouts, and design elements in the unpacked XML.

Creating New Presentations

Using pptxgenjs (JavaScript)

import pptxgen from 'pptxgenjs';

const pptx = new pptxgen();

const slide = pptx.addSlide();
slide.addText('Hello World', {
  x: 1, y: 1,
  fontSize: 24,
  color: '363636'
});

pptx.writeFile({ fileName: 'presentation.pptx' });

Using python-pptx (Python)

from pptx import Presentation
from pptx.util import Inches, Pt

prs = Presentation()
slide_layout = prs.slide_layouts[0]  # Title slide
slide = prs.slides.add_slide(slide_layout)

title = slide.shapes.title
title.text = "Hello World"

prs.save('presentation.pptx')

Editing Existing Presentations

Workflow

1. Unpack PPTX file
2. Modify XML content directly
3. Validate changes
4. Repack presentation

Python Approach

from pptx import Presentation

prs = Presentation('input.pptx')
for slide in prs.slides:
    for shape in slide.shapes:
        if shape.has_text_frame:
            for paragraph in shape.text_frame.paragraphs:
                for run in paragraph.runs:
                    run.text = run.text.replace('old', 'new')
prs.save('output.pptx')

Design Guidelines

Color Palettes

• Use consistent brand colors throughout
• Ensure sufficient contrast for readability
• Limit to 3-5 colors per presentation

Typography

• Headlines: Bold, larger font (24-44pt)
• Body text: Regular weight (18-24pt)
• Use consistent font family

Layout Patterns

• Title + content
• Two-column comparison
• Image with caption
• Quote/highlight slide
• Data visualization

Visual Hierarchy

• Most important content largest/boldest
• Use whitespace effectively
• Guide viewer's eye with alignment

Document Conversion

PPTX to PDF

libreoffice --headless --convert-to pdf presentation.pptx

Slide Thumbnails

pdftoppm -jpeg -r 150 presentation.pdf slide

Dependencies

• pptxgenjs (JavaScript)
• python-pptx (Python)
• LibreOffice (conversion)
• Poppler utilities (thumbnails)