Powerpoint Automation

PowerPoint Automation

Use the local script at scripts/powerpoint_automation.ps1 for desktop PowerPoint tasks.

Prefer this skill when the user explicitly wants the desktop application involved, when a workflow needs Microsoft PowerPoint compatibility, or when a generated .pptx should be validated or exported through the installed Office app instead of a pure code pipeline.

This skill is intentionally dual-mode:

• interactive desktop work: prefer launch
• background automation: use open-check, save-as, export-pdf, or export-images

If Windows session isolation blocks COM automation, the skill will avoid falling back to WPS. For open-check, it can fall back to launching the file in real Microsoft PowerPoint. For export/save actions, it returns a structured session-isolation error so the next step is obvious.

Available actions

• launch: start the real Microsoft PowerPoint desktop app, optionally with a target file
• open-check: open a presentation invisibly, confirm it loads, then close it
• save-as: open a presentation and save it to another path
• export-pdf: export a presentation to PDF
• export-images: export slides to PNG or JPG images in a target folder

Command pattern

Run:

powershell -ExecutionPolicy Bypass -File "<skill-dir>\scripts\powerpoint_automation.ps1" `
  -Action <launch|open-check|save-as|export-pdf|export-images> `
  [-InputPath "<absolute-input-path>"] `
  [-OutputPath "<absolute-output-path>"] `
  [-ImageFormat png|jpg] `
  [-Width 1920] `
  [-Height 1080]

Rules

• Use absolute Windows paths.
• Create output directories before export when needed.
• Keep PowerPoint hidden unless the user explicitly wants an interactive window.
• Close the presentation and quit the COM application in all cases.
• If COM automation fails, surface the exact error instead of silently falling back to another tool.
• For image export, pass -OutputPath as a directory.
• Do not run multiple PowerPoint automation commands in parallel against the same desktop session.
• For launch, prefer the installed Microsoft Office path at C:\Program Files\Microsoft Office\root\Office16\POWERPNT.EXE.
• Treat file association and process checks as part of verification when the user wants to avoid WPS.
• Prefer launch for everyday editing, template review, or "open this deck in PowerPoint" requests.
• Prefer COM actions only when the task truly needs deterministic save/export output from the desktop Office app.

Notes

• This skill depends on PowerPoint.Application COM being available on the machine.
• The script returns structured JSON so results can be inspected or chained into later steps.
• Session-isolation errors such as 0x80070520 or MK_E_UNAVAILABLE usually mean the current shell cannot control the interactive desktop Office session. In that case, use launch or let open-check fall back to desktop launch.