power-pptx

power-pptx is an actively-maintained fork of the excellent python-pptx library by Steve Canny, picking up where the upstream's 1.0.2 release left off. It is a Python library for creating, reading, and updating PowerPoint (.pptx) files.

The import path is unchanged (import pptx) so it is a drop-in replacement; only the distribution name on PyPI differs:

pip install power-pptx

A typical use is generating a PowerPoint presentation from dynamic content such as a database query, analytics output, or a JSON payload — perhaps in response to an HTTP request — and downloading the generated PPTX file. It runs on any Python-capable platform, including macOS and Linux, and does not require Microsoft PowerPoint to be installed or licensed.

It can also be used to analyze PowerPoint files from a corpus, perhaps to extract search-indexing text and images, or simply to automate the production of a slide or two that would be tedious to get right by hand.

What's new in the fork

The fork extends the 1.0.2 surface with features the upstream roadmap did not cover. All additions are drop-in compatible — existing scripts keep working — and every new feature ships with a round-trip regression test.

• Visual effects — outer shadow, glow, soft edges, blur, and reflection exposed as non-mutating proxies on every shape; alpha-tinted colors (RGBColor.alpha); gradient fills with linear / radial / rectangular / shape kinds and mutable stops; line ends, caps, joins, and compound lines.
• Animations and transitions — preset entrance, exit, and emphasis effects; motion-path presets (line, diagonal, circle, arc, zigzag, spiral); per-paragraph reveal; sequencing context manager; per-slide and deck-wide transitions including Morph and the other p14: extension transitions.
• Layout linter — slide.lint() reports text overflow, off-slide shapes, and undeclared collisions, with optional auto_fix() and save-time hooks.
• JSON authoring — pptx.compose.from_spec(...) builds a deck from a JSON-shaped spec; import_slide and apply_template cover cross-presentation operations.
• Theme reader and writer — read theme colors and fonts; write fresh <a:srgbClr> values into the clrScheme; apply a theme imported from a .potx.
• Picture effects — transparency, brightness, contrast, recolor (grayscale, sepia, washout, duotone); native SVG embedding with PNG fallback.
• Design-system layer — DesignTokens (palette, typography, shadows, radii, spacings) loadable from a dict, YAML, or a .pptx; a token-resolving shape.style facade; Grid / Stack layout primitives; opinionated slide recipes (title, bullet, kpi, quote, image_hero); a starter pack of three example token sets.
• Charting — chart palette presets independent of chart_style; ten quick-layout presets; full per-series gradient and pattern fills.
• 3D primitives and SmartArt text substitution — bevel and extrusion via shape.three_d; slide.smart_art[i].set_text([...]).
• Slide thumbnails — Presentation.render_thumbnails() shells out to LibreOffice for PNG previews.

See HISTORY.rst for the full changelog and ROADMAP.md for the broader plan.

Attribution

This project is a fork of scanny/python-pptx, originally created and maintained by Steve Canny under the MIT License. The original copyright notice is preserved in LICENSE. Sincere thanks to Steve and to all the upstream contributors whose work this project builds on.

The fork was created to continue development of features the upstream roadmap did not cover (notably effects, transitions, animations, theme customization, and a higher-level design layer). See HISTORY.rst for the divergence point and changelog from there forward.

This project is not affiliated with or endorsed by Microsoft. "PowerPoint" is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation; it is used here only descriptively to identify the file format the library reads and writes.

Documentation

The Sphinx documentation lives under docs/ and covers both the inherited 1.0.2 API and every feature added by the fork. Browse examples with screenshots to get a quick idea what you can do.