powerpoint

The saved excerpt is a snapshot from when this skill was listed. The external source remains the complete and most current version.

---
name: powerpoint
description: Create, read, edit .pptx decks with python-pptx.
version: 1.1.0
author: Nous Research
license: MIT
platforms: [linux, macos, windows]
metadata:
  hermes:
    tags: [pptx, powerpoint, presentations, slides, office, python-pptx]
    category: productivity
    related_skills: [docx, xlsx, pdf]
---

# Powerpoint Skill

Create, inspect, and edit PowerPoint (.pptx) presentations using the
python-pptx library. Five helper scripts cover deck creation from a JSON
spec, structured read-back, in-place edits, template-driven brand decks,
and slide rendering — all offline, no PowerPoint installation required.

## When to Use

- The user asks to build a slide deck, report presentation, or pitch deck.
- You need to extract text, notes, tables, chart data, or images from a
  .pptx someone shared.
- You need to update an existing deck: replace text, refresh or patch
  chart data, swap a logo, duplicate/remove/reorder slides, set
  backgrounds, footers, hyperlinks, or speaker notes.
- You must produce an on-brand deck from a company .pptx template.
- Do NOT use this for .ppt (legacy binary) files — convert them first with
  `soffice --convert-to pptx old.ppt` if LibreOffice is available.

## Prerequisites

- Python 3.10+ with `python-pptx` installed
  (`pip install python-pptx`).
- Optional: LibreOffice (`soffice`) plus poppler (`pdftoppm` or
  `pdftocairo`) for rendering slides to PNGs and for PDF export.
  `pptx_render.py` detects both with `shutil.which` and degrades
  gracefully (reports `{"rendered": false, "missing": [...]}`, exit 0)
  when absent — all create/read/edit operations work without them.
- Check availability via `terminal`:
  `python -c "import pptx; print(pptx.__version__)"` and `which soffice pdftoppm`.

## How to Run

All scripts live in `scripts/`, take `--help`, print JSON to stdout, and
exit non-zero on failure. Run them with `terminal`:

```bash
python scripts/pptx_create.py deck.json out.pptx
python scripts/pptx_read.py deck.pptx --outline      # full JSON outline
python scripts/pptx_read.py deck.pptx --notes        # speaker notes
python scripts/pptx_read.py deck.pptx --images ./img # export pictures
python scripts/pptx_edit.py deck.pptx --replace-text "Old Corp" "New Corp"
python scripts/pptx_edit.py deck.pptx --chart-data update.json
python scripts/pptx_edit.py deck.pptx --duplicate-slide 2
python scripts/pptx_edit.py deck.pptx --remove-slide 3 --move-slide 2 0
python scripts/pptx_from_template.py brand.pptx out.pptx --values vals.json
python scripts/pptx_render.py deck.pptx --outdir ./render  # slide PNGs
```

Author JSON specs with `write_file`; inspect script output and generated
JSON with `read_file`.

## Quick Reference

| Task | Command |
|---|---|
| New deck from spec | `pptx_create.py spec.json out.pptx` |
| 16:9 vs 4:3 | `"slide_size": "16:9"` or `"4:3"` in the spec |
| Outline as JSON | `pptx_read.py deck.pptx --outline` |
| Export images | `pptx_read.py deck.pptx --images DIR` |
| Replace text | `pptx_edit.py deck.pptx --replace-text OLD NEW` |
| Replace chart data | `pptx_edit.py deck.pptx --chart-data spec.json` |
| Patch one series | same flag, spec with `"ops"` (see below) |
| Swap picture | `pptx_edit.py deck.pptx --swap-image N NAME new.png` |
| Duplicate slide | `pptx_edit.py deck.pptx --duplicate-slide N` |
| Remove slide | `pptx_edit.py deck.pptx --remove-slide N` |
| Reorder slide | `pptx_edit.py deck.pptx --move-slide FROM TO` |
| Slide background | `pptx_edit.py deck.pptx --set-background N RRGGBB` |
| Hyperlink runs | `pptx_edit.py deck.pptx --hyperlink N TEXT URL` |
| Slide number on | `pptx_edit.py deck.pptx --enable-slide-number N` |
| Footer text | `pptx_edit.py deck.pptx --set-footer N TEXT` |
| Set notes | `pptx_edit.py deck.pptx --set-notes N TEXT` |
| Append notes | `pptx_edit.py deck.pptx --append-notes N TEXT` |
| Fill template | `pptx_from_template.py tpl.pptx out.pptx --values v.json` |
| Render slide PNGs | `pptx_render.py deck.pptx --outdir DIR`