Free C# .NET Library to Generate PowerPoint PPTX from Template

Getting Started with PPTXTemplater

The recommend way to install PPTXTemplater is using GitHub. Please use the following command for a smooth installation.

 git clone https://github.com/tkrotoff/PptxTemplater.git

Template-Based PPTX Files Generation via C#

The foundation of PptxTemplater is its template-based approach. You start by creating a standard PowerPoint presentation that will serve as your template. In this template, you can define placeholders for dynamic content using a simple and intuitive syntax, typically {{placeholder_name}}. This allows you to design your slides in PowerPoint itself, giving you full control over the visual aspects of your presentation. Here is a simple example that shows how to create a PowerPoint template with two slides via C# library?

const string srcFileName = "template.pptx";
const string dstFileName = "final.pptx";
File.Delete(dstFileName);
File.Copy(srcFileName, dstFileName);

Pptx pptx = new Pptx(dstFileName, FileAccess.ReadWrite);
int nbSlides = pptx.SlidesCount();
Assert.AreEqual(2, nbSlides);

// First slide
{
    PptxSlide slide = pptx.GetSlide(0);
    slide.ReplaceTag("{{hello}}", "HELLO HOW ARE YOU?", PptxSlide.ReplacementType.Global);
    slide.ReplaceTag("{{bonjour}}", "BONJOUR TOUT LE MONDE", PptxSlide.ReplacementType.Global);
    slide.ReplaceTag("{{hola}}", "HOLA MAMA QUE TAL?", PptxSlide.ReplacementType.Global);
}

// Second slide
{
    PptxSlide slide = pptx.GetSlide(1);
    slide.ReplaceTag("{{hello}}", "H", PptxSlide.ReplacementType.Global);
    slide.ReplaceTag("{{bonjour}}", "B", PptxSlide.ReplacementType.Global);
    slide.ReplaceTag("{{hola}}", "H", PptxSlide.ReplacementType.Global);
}

Text Replacement in PPTX Presentation via C#

One of the most fundamental features of PptxTemplater is its ability to replace text placeholders with your data. This is incredibly useful for personalizing presentations with names, dates, numbers, and other textual information. Here is a simple example that shows, how software developers can replace text inside a PPTX presentation inside C# .NET applications.

using PptxTemplater;

// Load the template
using (var presentation = new Presentation("template.pptx"))
{
    // Define the data
    var data = new Dictionary
    {
        { "name", "John Doe" },
        { "date", DateTime.Now.ToShortDateString() }
    };

    // Fill the template
    presentation.Fill(data);

    // Save the new presentation
    presentation.SaveAs("output.pptx");
}

Replace Images in PPTX Presentation via C#

The open source PptxTemplater library is not limited to just text. Software developers can also replace images inside their templates with just a couple of lines of code. This is particularly useful for generating product catalogs, employee badges, or any other presentation that requires dynamic images. Here is a simple example that show to replace images inside PPTX presentations. To replace an image, you first need to add a placeholder image in your template and give it a specific name (e.g., "photo1").

// Assuming you have a slide with an image named "photo1"
var slide = presentation.Slides[0];
slide.ReplacePicture("photo1", "new_image.png");

Add, Remove or Clone Slide via C#

The open source PptxTemplater library gives you granular control over the slides in your presentation. You can clone existing slides to create dynamic sections or remove slides that are not needed based on your data. Moreover, it is also possible to add new slides and remove unwanted one. The following example shows, how to clone or remove a slide inside C# applications.

/// Clone a slide
var newSlide = presentation.CloneSlide(0);

// Remove a slide
presentation.RemoveSlide(1);