Find and replace text in PowerPoint slides in C# and VB.NET

Name: GemBox.Presentation
Author: GemBox Ltd.

With the GemBox.Presentation library, you can find text using a string or a regular expression and replace it with new content, as shown in the following example.

using GemBox.Presentation;
using System.Linq;

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

presentation.Save("Find And Replace.pptx");

Imports GemBox.Presentation
Imports System.Linq

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 text content with "0M" value in the table.
        Dim zeroValueRanges = table.TextContent.Find("0M")

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

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

The text content of a presentation document is represented with by the 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

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

Deleting the text content with the 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.

Find and replace text in PowerPoint slides in C# and VB.NET

See also

Next steps