pptx-skill

PPTX Skill

Purpose

Provides expertise in programmatic PowerPoint presentation creation, editing, and automation. Specializes in using python-pptx (Python) and PptxGenJS (JavaScript) for generating dynamic slide decks and automating presentation workflows.

When to Use

• Generating presentations programmatically
• Creating slides from data sources
• Modifying existing PowerPoint files
• Building automated report generators
• Adding charts and tables to slides
• Applying templates and branding
• Extracting content from presentations
• Batch processing multiple presentations

Quick Start

Invoke this skill when:

• Creating PowerPoint files from code
• Automating slide generation
• Modifying existing PPTX files
• Building presentation templates
• Extracting data from slides

Do NOT invoke when:

• PDF generation → use /pdf-skill
• Word documents → use /docx-skill
• Excel files → use /xlsx-skill
• Manual presentation design → use appropriate design tools

Decision Framework

PPTX Operation?
├── Generate from Scratch
│   ├── Python → python-pptx
│   └── JavaScript → PptxGenJS
├── Modify Existing
│   └── python-pptx (read + modify)
├── Template-Based
│   └── Load template, fill placeholders
└── Extract Content
    └── python-pptx for reading

Core Workflows

1. Presentation Generation (python-pptx)

1. Install python-pptx
2. Create Presentation object
3. Add slides from layouts
4. Add content (text, images, tables)
5. Apply formatting
6. Save presentation

2. Chart Creation

1. Prepare data for chart
2. Create chart data object
3. Add chart to slide
4. Configure chart type and options
5. Style chart elements
6. Position and size appropriately

3. Template-Based Generation

1. Create master template with placeholders
2. Load template in code
3. Identify placeholder shapes
4. Replace placeholder content
5. Add dynamic slides as needed
6. Save as new file

Best Practices

• Use slide layouts from the template
• Keep text within placeholder boundaries
• Use appropriate chart types for data
• Maintain consistent styling
• Test output in PowerPoint
• Handle missing fonts gracefully

Anti-Patterns

Anti-Pattern	Problem	Correct Approach
Ignoring layouts	Inconsistent formatting	Use slide layouts
Hardcoded positions	Layout breaks	Use placeholders
Too much text per slide	Unreadable	Limit content, use bullets
Missing templates	Reinventing styling	Create reusable templates
No error handling	Corrupted files	Validate and handle errors