Python-pptx: copy slide

Since I also found another usecase for the code shared by @d_bergeron, I just wanted to share it here.
In my case, I wanted to copy a slide from another presentation into the one I generated with python-pptx:

As argument I pass in the Presentation() object I created using python-pptx (prs = Presenation()).

from pptx import Presentation
import copy

def copy_slide_from_external_prs(prs):

    # copy from external presentation all objects into the existing presentation
    external_pres = Presentation("PATH/TO/PRES/TO/IMPORT/from.pptx")

    # specify the slide you want to copy the contents from
    ext_slide = external_pres.slides[0]

    # Define the layout you want to use from your generated pptx
    SLD_LAYOUT = 5
    slide_layout = prs.slide_layouts[SLD_LAYOUT]

    # create now slide, to copy contents to 
    curr_slide = prs.slides.add_slide(slide_layout)

    # now copy contents from external slide, but do not copy slide properties
    # e.g. slide layouts, etc., because these would produce errors, as diplicate
    # entries might be generated

    for shp in ext_slide.shapes:
        el = shp.element
        newel = copy.deepcopy(el)
        curr_slide.shapes._spTree.insert_element_before(newel, 'p:extLst')

    return prs

I am mainly posting it here, since I was looking for a way to copy an external slide into my presentation and ended up in this thread.

Sorry for the delay, I was moved to another project. I was able to complete my ppt project using multiple template slides and copying them. At the end of building the presentation I delete the templates. To grab the shapes you will need to iterate through the slide.shapes and find the name of the shape that you are looking for. Once you have this returned you can then edit the shape as needed. I have added a version of the add_text function that I use to populate shape.text_frame.

def find_shape_by_name(shapes, name):
    for shape in shapes:
        if shape.name == name:
            return shape
    return None

def add_text(shape, text, alignment=None):

    if alignment:
        shape.vertical_anchor = alignment

    tf = shape.text_frame
    tf.clear()
    run = tf.paragraphs[0].add_run()
    run.text = text if text else ''

To find the shape “slide_title”.

slide_title = find_shape_by_name(slide.shapes,'slide_title')

To add text to the shape.

add_text(slide_title,'TEST SLIDE')

Please let me know if you need any other assistance.

I wanted to present my workaround to copy slides. I use a template ppt and populate it. I know before populating the slides which slides of the template need to be copied and how often. What I then do is copying the slides and saving the new ppt with the copied slides. After saving I can open the ppt with the copied slides and use pptx to populate the slides.

import win32com.client
ppt_instance = win32com.client.Dispatch('PowerPoint.Application')
#open the powerpoint presentation headless in background
read_only = True
has_title = False
window    = False
prs = ppt_instance.Presentations.open('path/ppt.pptx',read_only,has_title,window)

nr_slide = 1
insert_index = 1
prs.Slides(nr_slide).Copy()
prs.Slides.Paste(Index=insert_index)

prs.SaveAs('path/new_ppt.pptx')
prs.Close()

#kills ppt_instance
ppt_instance.Quit()
del ppt_instance

In this case the firste slide would be copied of the presentation and inserted after the first slide of the same presentation.

Hope this helps some of you!

Here is another way to copy each slide onto a single PPTX slide for an entire presentation, and then you can use LibreOffice to convert each individual powerpoint into an image:

def get_slide_count(prs):
""" Get the number of slides in PPTX presentation """
    slidecount = 0
    for slide in prs.slides:
        slidecount += 1
    return slidecount


def delete_slide(prs, slide):
    """ Delete a slide out of a powerpoint presentation"""
    id_dict = { slide.id: [i, slide.rId] for i,slide in enumerate(prs.slides._sldIdLst) }
    slide_id = slide.slide_id
    prs.part.drop_rel(id_dict[slide_id][1])
    del prs.slides._sldIdLst[id_dict[slide_id][0]]


def get_single_slide_pres(prs, slidetokeep):
    for idx, slide in enumerate(prs.slides):
        if idx < slidetokeep:
            delete_slide(prs, slide)
        elif (idx > slidetokeep):
            delete_slide(prs, slide)
    prs.save(str(slidetokeep + 1) + ".pptx")


pptxfilepath = "test.pptx"
prs = Presentation(pptxfilepath)
slidecount = get_slide_count(prs)
for i in range(slidecount):
    prs_backup = Presentation(pptxfilepath)
    get_single_slide_pres(prs_backup, i)
    prs_backup = None

I was using n00by0815’s answer and it worked great until I had to copy images. Here is my adapted version that handles images. This code creates a local copy of the image then adds it to the slide. I’m sure there’s a cleaner way, but this works.

I edited @n00by0815 solution and came up with very elegant code, which also can copy images without errors:

# ATTENTNION: PPTX PACKAGE RUNS ONLY ON CERTAINS VERSION OF PYTHON (https://python-pptx.readthedocs.io/en/latest/user/install.html)

from pptx import Presentation
from pptx.util import Pt
from pptx.enum.text import PP_ALIGN
import copy
import os

DIR_PATH = os.path.dirname(os.path.realpath(__file__))

#modeled on https://stackoverflow.com/a/56074651/20159015 and https://stackoverflow.com/a/62921848/20159015
#this for some reason doesnt copy text properties (font size, alignment etc.)
def SlideCopyFromPasteInto(copyFromPres, slideIndex,  pasteIntoPres):

    # specify the slide you want to copy the contents from
    slide_to_copy = copyFromPres.slides[slideIndex]

    # Define the layout you want to use from your generated pptx

    slide_layout = pasteIntoPres.slide_layouts.get_by_name("Blank") # names of layouts can be found here under step 3: https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/how-to-change-slide-layout-in-ms-powerpoint/
    # it is important for slide_layout to be blank since you dont want these "Write your title here" or something like that textboxes
    # alternative: slide_layout = pasteIntoPres.slide_layouts[copyFromPres.slide_layouts.index(slide_to_copy.slide_layout)]
    
    # create now slide, to copy contents to 
    new_slide = pasteIntoPres.slides.add_slide(slide_layout)

    # create images dict
    imgDict = {}

    # now copy contents from external slide, but do not copy slide properties
    # e.g. slide layouts, etc., because these would produce errors, as diplicate
    # entries might be generated
    for shp in slide_to_copy.shapes:
        if 'Picture' in shp.name:
            # save image
            with open(shp.name+'.jpg', 'wb') as f:
                f.write(shp.image.blob)

            # add image to dict
            imgDict[shp.name+'.jpg'] = [shp.left, shp.top, shp.width, shp.height]
        else:
            # create copy of elem
            el = shp.element
            newel = copy.deepcopy(el)

            # add elem to shape tree
            new_slide.shapes._spTree.insert_element_before(newel, 'p:extLst')
    
    # things added first will be covered by things added last => since I want pictures to be in foreground, I will add them after others elements
    # you can change this if you want
    # add pictures
    for k, v in imgDict.items():
        new_slide.shapes.add_picture(k, v[0], v[1], v[2], v[3])
        os.remove(k)

    return new_slide # this returns slide so you can instantly work with it when it is pasted in presentation



templatePres = Presentation(f"{DIR_PATH}/template.pptx")

outputPres = Presentation() 
outputPres.slide_height, outputPres.slide_width = templatePres.slide_height, templatePres.slide_width
# this can sometimes cause problems. Alternative:
# outputPres = Presentation(f"{DIR_PATH}/template.pptx") and now delete all slides to have empty presentation

# if you just want to copy and paste slide:
SlideCopyFromPasteInto(templatePres,0,outputPres)

# if you want to edit slide that was just pasted in presentation:
pastedSlide = SlideCopyFromPasteInto(templatePres,0,outputPres)
pastedSlide.shapes.title.text = "My very cool title"

for shape in pastedSlide.shapes:

    if not(shape.has_text_frame): continue

    # easiest ways to edit text fields is to put some identifying text in them
    if shape.text_frame.text == "personName": # there is a text field with "personName" written into it
        shape.text_frame.text = "Brian"

    if shape.text_frame.text == "personSalary":
        shape.text_frame.text = str(brianSalary)

    # stylizing text need to be done after you change it
    shape.text_frame.paragraphs[0].font.size = Pt(80) 
    shape.text_frame.paragraphs[0].alignment = PP_ALIGN.CENTER

outputPres.save(f'{DIR_PATH}/output.pptx')