Find and Replace Text in PowerPoint Slides

With GemBox.Presentation, you can manipulate the text content of the presentation document, find the text using string or regular expression, and replace the text with new content.

The text content of a presentation document is represented with a TextRange class, which is exposed on the following content model classes:

PresentationDocument
SlideObject, including all derived types, and SlideCollection
Drawing, including all derived types, and DrawingCollection
Table
TableRow and TableRowCollection
TableCell and TableCellCollection
TextParagraph and TextParagraphCollection
TextElement, including all derived types, and TextElementCollection

The following example shows how you can find and replace text in a slide using one of the TextRange.Replace methods.

PowerPoint slide with the replaced text — Screenshot of PowerPoint slide whose text was replaced

C#
VB.NET

View on GitHub

using System.Linq;
using GemBox.Presentation;

class Program
{
    static void Main()
    {
        // If using the Professional version, put your serial key below.
        ComponentInfo.SetLicense("FREE-LIMITED-KEY");

        var presentation = PresentationDocument.Load("%#FindAndReplace.pptx%");

        var slide = presentation.Slides[0];

        slide.TextContent.Replace("companyName", "Acme Corporation");

        var items = new string[][]
        {
            new string[] { "January",  "$14.2M", "$1.6M", "$12.5M", "$2.3M" },
            new string[] { "February", "$15.2M", "$0.6M", "$11.3M", "$4.3M" },
            new string[] { "March",    "$17.2M", "$0M",   "$12.1M", "$52.3M" },
            new string[] { "April",    "$7.2M",  "$1.6M", "$7.2M",  "$0M" },
            new string[] { "May",      "$3.2M",  "$1.6M", "$0M",    "$3.2M" }
        };

        var table = slide.Content.Drawings.OfType<GraphicFrame>().First().Table;

        // Clone the row with custom text tags (e.g. '@month', '@revenue', etc.).
        for (int i = 0; i < items.Length - 1; i++)
            table.Rows.AddClone(table.Rows[1]);

        // Replace custom text tags with data.
        for (int i = 0; i < items.Length; i++)
        {
            var row = table.Rows[i + 1];
            var item = items[i];
            row.TextContent.Replace("@month", item[0]);
            row.TextContent.Replace("@revenue", item[1]);
            row.TextContent.Replace("@cashExpense", item[2]);
            row.TextContent.Replace("@operatingIncome", item[3]);
            row.TextContent.Replace("@operatingExpense", item[4]);
        }

        // Find all TextRuns with "0M" value in the table.
        var zeroValueRanges = table.TextContent.Find("0M");

        presentation.Save("Find And Replace.%OutputFileType%");
    }
}

Imports System.Linq
Imports GemBox.Presentation

Module Program

    Sub Main()

        ' If using the Professional version, put your serial key below.
        ComponentInfo.SetLicense("FREE-LIMITED-KEY")

        Dim presentation = PresentationDocument.Load("%#FindAndReplace.pptx%")

        Dim slide = presentation.Slides(0)

        slide.TextContent.Replace("companyName", "Acme Corporation")

        Dim items As String()() = 
        {
            new String() {"January",  "$14.2M", "$1.6M", "$12.5M", "$2.3M"},
            new String() {"February", "$15.2M", "$0.6M", "$11.3M", "$4.3M"},
            new String() {"March",    "$17.2M", "$0M",   "$12.1M", "$52.3M"},
            new String() {"April",    "$7.2M",  "$1.6M", "$7.2M",  "$0M"},
            new String() {"May",      "$3.2M",  "$1.6M", "$0M",    "$3.2M"}
        }

        Dim table = slide.Content.Drawings.OfType(Of GraphicFrame).First().Table

        ' Clone the row with custom text tags (e.g. '@month', '@revenue', etc.).
        For  i = 0 to items.Length - 2
            table.Rows.AddClone(table.Rows(1))
        Next

        ' Replace custom text tags with data.
        for i = 0 to items.Length - 1
            Dim row = table.Rows(i + 1)
            Dim item = items(i)
            row.TextContent.Replace("@month", item(0))
            row.TextContent.Replace("@revenue", item(1))
            row.TextContent.Replace("@cashExpense", item(2))
            row.TextContent.Replace("@operatingIncome", item(3))
            row.TextContent.Replace("@operatingExpense", item(4))
        Next

        ' Find all TextRuns with "0M" value in the table.
        Dim zeroValueRanges = table.TextContent.Find("0M")

        presentation.Save("Find And Replace.%OutputFileType%")
    End Sub
End Module

You can also use the TextRange class to achieve the following tasks:

Deleting the text content with TextRange.Delete method.
Replacing the whole text content with TextRange.LoadText methods.
Inserting additional text on the content's Start or End position with TextPosition.LoadText methods.
Getting the text representation with TextRange.ToString method.
Searching the text content for specific text or regex with TextRange.Find methods.

Next steps

GemBox.Presentation is a .NET component that enables you to read, write, edit, convert, and print presentation files from your .NET applications using one simple API.

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Published: March 28, 2019 | Modified: May 15, 2023 | Author: Marek Turis

Find and Replace Text in PowerPoint Slides

See also

Next steps