pptx

PPTX Skill

Quick Reference

Task	Guide
Read/analyze content	`python -m markitdown presentation.pptx`
Edit or create from template	Read references/editing.md and references/ooxml.md
Create from scratch (HTML)	Read references/html2pptx.md
Create from scratch (PptxGenJS)	Read references/pptxgenjs.md

Reading Content

# Text extraction
python -m markitdown presentation.pptx

Visual overview

python scripts/thumbnail.py presentation.pptx

Raw XML

python scripts/unpack.py presentation.pptx unpacked/


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## Editing Workflow

**Read [references/editing.md](references/editing.md) for OOXML editing details.**

1. Analyze template with `thumbnail.py`
2. Unpack → manipulate slides → edit content → clean → pack

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## Creating from Scratch

Two approaches:

- **HTML→PPTX** (via html2pptx.js): Read [references/html2pptx.md](references/html2pptx.md)
- **PptxGenJS** (JavaScript library): Read [references/pptxgenjs.md](references/pptxgenjs.md)

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## Creating from a Template

Detailed workflow using `inventory.py`, `rearrange.py`, and `replace.py`:

1. **Extract template text AND create visual thumbnail grid**:

   ```bash
   python -m markitdown template.pptx > template-content.md
   python scripts/thumbnail.py template.pptx

Analyze template and save inventory:

python scripts/inventory.py working.pptx text-inventory.json

Duplicate, reorder, and delete slides:

python scripts/rearrange.py template.pptx working.pptx 0,34,34,50,52

Apply text replacements:

python scripts/replace.py working.pptx replacement-text.json output.pptx

Design Ideas

Don't create boring slides. Plain bullets on a white background won't impress anyone. Consider ideas from this list for each slide.

Before Starting

Pick a bold, content-informed color palette: The palette should feel designed for THIS topic. If swapping your colors into a completely different presentation would still "work," you haven't made specific enough choices.
Dominance over equality: One color should dominate (60-70% visual weight), with 1-2 supporting tones and one sharp accent.
Dark/light contrast: Dark backgrounds for title + conclusion slides, light for content ("sandwich" structure).
Commit to a visual motif: Pick ONE distinctive element and repeat it — rounded image frames, icons in colored circles, thick single-side borders.

Color Palettes

Theme	Primary	Secondary	Accent
Midnight Executive	`1E2761` (navy)	`CADCFC` (ice blue)	`FFFFFF` (white)
Forest & Moss	`2C5F2D` (forest)	`97BC62` (moss)	`F5F5F5` (cream)
Coral Energy	`F96167` (coral)	`F9E795` (gold)	`2F3C7E` (navy)
Warm Terracotta	`B85042` (terracotta)	`E7E8D1` (sand)	`A7BEAE` (sage)
Ocean Gradient	`065A82` (deep blue)	`1C7293` (teal)	`21295C` (midnight)
Charcoal Minimal	`36454F` (charcoal)	`F2F2F2` (off-white)	`212121` (black)
Teal Trust	`028090` (teal)	`00A896` (seafoam)	`02C39A` (mint)
Berry & Cream	`6D2E46` (berry)	`A26769` (dusty rose)	`ECE2D0` (cream)

Typography

Header Font	Body Font
Georgia	Calibri
Arial Black	Arial
Trebuchet MS	Calibri
Impact	Arial

Element	Size
Slide title	36-44pt bold
Section header	20-24pt bold
Body text	14-16pt
Captions	10-12pt muted

Avoid

Don't repeat the same layout — vary columns, cards, and callouts across slides
Don't center body text — left-align paragraphs and lists; center only titles
Don't default to blue — pick colors that reflect the specific topic
Don't create text-only slides — add images, icons, charts, or visual elements
NEVER use accent lines under titles — hallmark of AI-generated slides; use whitespace or background color instead

QA (Required)

Assume there are problems. Your job is to find them.

Content QA

python -m markitdown output.pptx

Check for missing content, typos, wrong order. When using templates, check for leftover placeholder text:

python -m markitdown output.pptx | grep -iE "xxxx|lorem|ipsum|this.*(page|slide).*layout"

Visual QA

Convert slides to images and inspect for overlapping elements, text overflow, contrast issues, and positioning problems. See Converting to Images.

Verification Loop

Generate slides → Convert to images → Inspect
List issues found (if none found, look again more critically)
Fix issues
Re-verify affected slides — one fix often creates another problem
Repeat until a full pass reveals no new issues

Do not declare success until you've completed at least one fix-and-verify cycle.

Scripts

Script	Purpose
`unpack.py`	Extract and pretty-print PPTX
`pack.py`	Repack with validation
`validate.py`	Validate PPTX XML against schemas
`add_slide.py`	Duplicate slide or create from layout
`clean.py`	Remove orphaned files
`thumbnail.py`	Create visual grid of slides
`inventory.py`	Extract text inventory from presentation
`rearrange.py`	Duplicate, reorder, and delete slides
`replace.py`	Apply text replacements to shapes
`html2pptx.js`	Convert HTML slides to PowerPoint

Converting to Images

Convert presentations to individual slide images for visual inspection:

python scripts/soffice.py --headless --convert-to pdf output.pptx
pdftoppm -jpeg -r 150 output.pdf slide

This creates slide-01.jpg, slide-02.jpg, etc.

To re-render specific slides after fixes:

pdftoppm -jpeg -r 150 -f N -l N output.pdf slide-fixed

Dependencies

pip install "markitdown[pptx]" - text extraction
pip install Pillow - thumbnail grids
npm install -g pptxgenjs - creating from scratch (PptxGenJS approach)
npm install -g playwright - HTML rendering (html2pptx approach)
LibreOffice (soffice) - PDF conversion (via scripts/soffice.py)
Poppler (pdftoppm) - PDF to images
pip install defusedxml - secure XML parsing