Combine Multiple Powerpoint Files

Scripting Forums AppleScript | Mac OS X
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#1

I have a situation where I have several Powerpoint files (each containing multiple slides) and I’d like to develop an Applescript that will take all the slides from specific files and merge them into one master file. I will need to keep the formatting intact (perhaps with a section/page breaks?).

This is what I have so far (commented area shows where I am missing proper code):

set theItems to {}
set x to 0

repeat until (count of theItems) > 1
	set theItems to choose file with prompt "Select two or more Powerpoint Files." with multiple selections allowed without invisibles
end repeat

tell application "Microsoft PowerPoint"
	activate
	make new presentation
repeat with aFile in theItems
		tell application "Finder"
			set fileRef to ((a reference to file aFile) as string) --not sure about this line
		end tell
		insert file at text object  of selection  file name fileRef --getting error on this line - improper syntax
		if x < ((count of theItems) - 1) then
			insert break at text object of selection
		end if
		set x to x + 1
	end repeat
end tell
#2

Okay, I’ve decided to run a simple script on two presentations. I wanted to loop through slides in presentation 2, and copy them into presentation 1:

tell application "Microsoft PowerPoint"
set preso1 to presentation 1
set preso2 to presentation 2
repeat with a from 1 to count slides of preso2
copy object slide a of preso2
paste object preso1
end repeat
end tell

That works fine. But now, I need to have files preselected and here is what I’ve written but with no success. I would appreciate some help. Thanks.:confused:

 set this_folder to (choose folder with prompt "Pick the folder containing the files to process:") as string
tell application "System Events"
	set these_files to path of every file of folder this_folder whose name does not start with "." and file type is "ppt"
end tell
tell application "Microsoft PowerPoint"
	activate
	set this_presentation to make new presentation
	repeat with i from 1 to the count of these_files
		set this_file to (item i of these_files)
		copy object slide i of this_file
		paste object this_presentation
	end repeat
end tell
#3

What about this?
Style of the slide will get lost.

property PPT_EXTENSIONS : {"ppt", "pptx"}

set this_folder to (choose folder with prompt "Pick the folder containing the files to process:") as string
set allFolderFiles to list folder this_folder without invisibles

tell application "Microsoft PowerPoint"
	activate
	
	-- make new pres to copy to
	set this_presentation to make new presentation
	
	-- repeat with all files
	repeat with i in allFolderFiles
		-- construct full path
		set fileHSF to (this_folder as text) & i
		
		-- if ppt or pptx
		if name extension of (info for alias fileHSF) is in PPT_EXTENSIONS then
			-- open file
			open alias fileHSF
			set myDoc to presentation fileHSF
			
			-- copy every slide
			repeat with i from 1 to (count every slide of myDoc)
				copy object slide i of myDoc
				paste object  this_presentation
			end repeat

			close myDoc saving no
		end if
		
	end repeat
end tell

Hope it helps,
ief2

#4

This part:

 copy object slide i of myDoc
					paste object this_presentation

copies the images and text fine but I need to retain the slide’s design, such as the background. Is there syntax to do that? Much appreciated.