PowerPoint presentations generation

library(officer)
# Package `magrittr` makes officer usage easier.
library(magrittr)

Introduction

Use the function read_pptx() to create an R object representing a PowerPoint document. The initial PowerPoint file can be specified with the path argument. If none is provided, this file will be an empty document located in the package directory. Formats and available slide layouts will be those available in the template file. The content of original document is also preserved (but can be manipulated, i.e. delete a slide).

my_pres <- read_pptx()

Add a slide

To add a new slide, use the function add_slide(). It requires 3 arguments:

Note that the layout and master values must match values from the initial document. Layout names and master layout names are not available in a tidy view within PowerPoint, but these can be read easily with the function layout_summary().

##              layout       master
## 1       Title Slide Office Theme
## 2 Title and Content Office Theme
## 3    Section Header Office Theme
## 4       Two Content Office Theme
## 5        Comparison Office Theme
## 6        Title Only Office Theme
## 7             Blank Office Theme

master layouts and slide layouts

officer uses a PowerPoint file as the initial document. This is the original PowerPoint document where all slide layouts, shapes (placeholders) and styles come from. Major points to be aware of are:

  • Slide layouts are relative to a master layout. A document can contain one or more master layouts; a master layout can contain one or more slide layouts.
  • A slide layout inherits design properties from its master layout but some properties can be overwritten.
  • Designs and formatting properties of layouts and shapes (placeholders in a layout) are defined within the initial document. There is no R function to modify these values - they must be defined in the initial document.

Add text content into a placeholder

Use the function ph_with_text() to add text into a new shape. The type of the shape is defined in the slide layout associated with the current slide. For example, using type = "title" will create a title shape in the current slide.

The function layout_properties provides details about the available shapes for a slide layout.

You can use columns type, id but also ph_label to identify or recognize shapes. ph_label is the label that can be associated to a placeholder in a slide template. type and id are often required to identify which placeholder should receive a content.

##     master_name        name   type id                   ph_label     offx
## 6  Office Theme Two Content   body  3      Content Placeholder 2 0.500000
## 7  Office Theme Two Content   body  4      Content Placeholder 3 5.083333
## 12 Office Theme Two Content     dt  5         Date Placeholder 4 0.500000
## 16 Office Theme Two Content    ftr  6       Footer Placeholder 5 3.416667
## 29 Office Theme Two Content sldNum  7 Slide Number Placeholder 6 7.166667
## 32 Office Theme Two Content  title  2                    Title 1 0.500000
##         offy       cx        cy
## 6  1.7500000 4.416667 4.9496533
## 7  1.7500000 4.416667 4.9496533
## 12 6.9513889 2.333333 0.3993056
## 16 6.9513889 3.166667 0.3993056
## 29 6.9513889 2.333333 0.3993056
## 32 0.3003478 9.000000 1.2500000

generate an annotated file from base template

The function annotate_base() can be used to generate a PowerPoint file from a template. The title of each slide will contain the layout and master names and each body element will have the index identified. This provides a visual method for linking slide elements to the relevant layout attributes.

## pptx document with 7 slide(s)
## Available layouts and their associated master(s) are:
##              layout       master
## 1       Title Slide Office Theme
## 2 Title and Content Office Theme
## 3    Section Header Office Theme
## 4       Two Content Office Theme
## 5        Comparison Office Theme
## 6        Title Only Office Theme
## 7             Blank Office Theme

Download file annotated_layout.pptx - view with office web viewer

Write the PowerPoint file

The (updated) Powerpoint file can be generated using the print() function along with the target argument:

## [1] "/private/var/folders/51/6jygptvs3bb4njv0t6x7br900000gn/T/RtmpfAyl1d/Rbuildbbb0559f13dc/officer/vignettes/assets/pptx/first_example.pptx"

Download file first_example.pptx - view with office web viewer

Slide selection and manipulation

There are 3 functions to let you manipulate slides: add_slide(), remove_slide() and on_slide().

A slide can be added with the add_slide() function.

my_pres <- read_pptx() %>% 
  add_slide(layout = "Two Content", master = "Office Theme") %>% 
  add_slide(layout = "Title and Content", master = "Office Theme") %>% 
  add_slide(layout = "Title Only", master = "Office Theme")
length(my_pres)
## [1] 3

A slide can be removed with the remove_slide() function.

my_pres <- my_pres %>% remove_slide(index = 1)
length(my_pres)
## [1] 2

A slide can be selected with the on_slide() function.

my_pres <- my_pres %>% on_slide(index = 1)

Add content into a placeholder

Add text

Use the function ph_with_text() to add text into a new shape. The type argument specifies which placeholder from the associated layout is to be added (index is to be used when a type is not unique in the slide layout).

## [1] "/private/var/folders/51/6jygptvs3bb4njv0t6x7br900000gn/T/RtmpfAyl1d/Rbuildbbb0559f13dc/officer/vignettes/assets/pptx/ph_with_text.pptx"

Download file ph_with_text.pptx - view with office web viewer

Again, use layout_properties() to see what placeholders are available in the slide layout.

Add image

Use the function ph_with_img() to add an image into a placeholder. As for all ph_with_* functions, the type argument specifies the placeholder from the associated layout to be added as a new shape (and index is to be used when a type is not unique in the slide layout).

## [1] "/private/var/folders/51/6jygptvs3bb4njv0t6x7br900000gn/T/RtmpfAyl1d/Rbuildbbb0559f13dc/officer/vignettes/assets/pptx/ph_with_img.pptx"

Download file ph_with_img.pptx - view with office web viewer

To add an image into a new shape at arbitrary coordinates, use the function ph_with_img_at(). The arguments left and top specify the top left coordinate of the new shape and the width and height arguments specify the dimensions of the new shape.

Add ggplot

Use function ph_with_gg() to add a ggplot object as an image into a placeholder. As for all ph_with_* functions, argument type specifies the placeholder of the associated layout to be added as a new shape (index is to be used when an type is not unique in the slide layout).

## Loading required package: ggplot2
## [1] "/private/var/folders/51/6jygptvs3bb4njv0t6x7br900000gn/T/RtmpfAyl1d/Rbuildbbb0559f13dc/officer/vignettes/assets/pptx/ph_with_gg.pptx"

Download file ph_with_img.pptx - view with office web viewer

To add a ggplot object into a new shape at arbitrary coordinates, use function ph_with_gg_at. Arguments left and top are specifying the top left coordinate of the new shape and arguments width and height are specifying the dimensions of the new shape.

Add table

Use the function ph_with_table() to add a table into a placeholder.

## [1] "/private/var/folders/51/6jygptvs3bb4njv0t6x7br900000gn/T/RtmpfAyl1d/Rbuildbbb0559f13dc/officer/vignettes/assets/pptx/ph_with_table.pptx"

Download file ph_with_table.pptx - view with office web viewer

To add a table into a new shape at arbitrary coordinates, use the function ph_with_table_at().

## [1] "/private/var/folders/51/6jygptvs3bb4njv0t6x7br900000gn/T/RtmpfAyl1d/Rbuildbbb0559f13dc/officer/vignettes/assets/pptx/ph_with_table_at.pptx"

Download file ph_with_table_at.pptx - view with office web viewer

Remove content from a slide

Use slide_summary() to easily identify shapes in the slide that can be removed.

slide_summary(doc)
##   type id ph_label offx offy cx cy
## 1 body  2            NA   NA NA NA
##                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    text
## 1 {5C22544A-7EE6-4342-B048-85BDC9FD1C3A}mpgcyldisphpdratwtqsecvsamgearcarb21.061601103.902.62016.46014421.061601103.902.87517.02014422.84108933.852.32018.61114121.462581103.083.21519.44103118.783601753.153.44017.02003218.162251052.763.46020.221031

In the following example, the shape corresponding to type "body" will be removed from the current slide:

doc <- ph_remove(x = doc, type = "body")

Append text sequentially in a shape

Add to an empty new placeholder

ph_empty() (and ph_empty_at) will add a new empty placeholder in the current slide. When using ph_with_text(), added text automatically inherits from the layout placeholder, whereas ph_empty() allows for more control of the format of added text and paragraphs.

As there is no paragraph in the new shape yet, the function ph_add_par() will be used to add a new paragraph. Then ph_add_text() will be used to add text into that new paragraph.

## [1] "/private/var/folders/51/6jygptvs3bb4njv0t6x7br900000gn/T/RtmpfAyl1d/Rbuildbbb0559f13dc/officer/vignettes/assets/pptx/ph_add_text_1.pptx"

Download file ph_add_text_1.pptx - view with office web viewer

Add to an existing placeholder of text

The following code produces a presentation comprised of one text shape containing the text “A first text”.

Since there is now a paragraph in the new shape, ph_add_par() will be used to add another paragraph and ph_add_text() then has to be used to add text into the last paragraph of the shape.

## [1] "/private/var/folders/51/6jygptvs3bb4njv0t6x7br900000gn/T/RtmpfAyl1d/Rbuildbbb0559f13dc/officer/vignettes/assets/pptx/ph_add_text_2.pptx"

Download file ph_add_text_2.pptx - view with office web viewer

Ressources

Len Kiefer wrote two very good blog posts about officer, he is providing nice examples with the corresponding R code: