PowerPoint Presentation Editing

Workflow (Edit -> Render -> Inspect)

1. Create a backup and work in versioned copies (never overwrite the only deck).
2. Baseline render to PNGs for fast visual review:
   • Run bash scripts/render_pptx.sh INPUT.pptx OUT_DIR [DPI].
   • Inspect the relevant OUT_DIR/slide-XX.png files with functions.view_image.
3. Inspect deck contents programmatically (optional):
   • python3 scripts/extract_slide_text.py INPUT.pptx for a per-slide text dump.
   • python3 scripts/inspect_slide.py INPUT.pptx --slide N for shape bounds + text.
4. Make one small change at a time (one slide, one layout fix, etc.).
5. After every change:
   • Verify media preservation: bash scripts/diff_pptx_media.sh BEFORE.pptx AFTER.pptx.
     • If the diff is non-empty, STOP: you likely dropped/modified embedded assets.
   • Re-render and visually re-check only the changed slide(s).

Scripts

Render PPTX -> PDF -> per-slide PNGs

bash scripts/render_pptx.sh INPUT.pptx OUT_DIR
bash scripts/render_pptx.sh INPUT.pptx OUT_DIR 220  # higher DPI for small text

Outputs:

• OUT_DIR/<deck-name>.pdf
• OUT_DIR/slide-01.png, OUT_DIR/slide-02.png, ...

Diff embedded assets between two PPTX files

bash scripts/diff_pptx_media.sh OLD.pptx NEW.pptx

Compares zipped package entries under:

• ppt/media/
• ppt/embeddings/
• ppt/oleObjects/

Quick inspection utilities

python3 scripts/extract_slide_text.py INPUT.pptx
python3 scripts/inspect_slide.py INPUT.pptx --slide 7

Notes

• PDF/PNG renders cannot play videos/animations; they show a poster frame/placeholder.
• python-pptx cannot reorder slides via public API. For a pragmatic internal workaround, see references/reorder_slides.md.