paper-pptx

An import-compatible, agent-safe fork of python-pptx for creating and editing PowerPoint presentations without silent corruption.

paper-pptx is an import-compatible hard fork of python-pptx for creating and editing PowerPoint (.pptx) presentations. It keeps the pptx import name and upstream object model, and adds structure-aware operations and machine-readable results for automated workflows.

Installation

Use an activated virtual environment.

python -m pip uninstall -y python-pptx paper-pptx
python -m pip install paper-pptx
python -m paper_pptx_doctor

Both distributions provide the pptx import package. Do not install python-pptx and paper-pptx in the same environment.

To return to python-pptx, run the uninstall line above again, then python -m pip install python-pptx.

Quick start

Create a presentation and update its text without flattening untouched run formatting:

from pptx import Presentation
from pptx.edit import replace_text

prs = Presentation()
slide = prs.slides.add_slide(prs.slide_layouts[0])
slide.shapes.title.text = "FY25 plan"
prs.save("deck.pptx")

prs = Presentation("deck.pptx")
result = replace_text(prs, "FY25", "FY26")
prs.save("deck-v2.pptx")
print(result.replacements)  # 1

replace_text returns a machine-readable result and refuses unsupported edits before changing the presentation.

Documentation

Read the paper-pptx documentation.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

Acknowledgments

paper-pptx builds on python-pptx by Steve Canny and contributors. This fork preserves their API, license, and attribution.

Citation

If you reference paper-pptx in research or writing:

@software{paper_pptx,
  title   = {paper-pptx: an agent-first structure editor for PowerPoint files},
  author  = {{Paper Instruments, Inc.}},
  year    = {2026},
  url     = {https://github.com/paper-instruments/paper-pptx}
}

Cite it as a fork of python-pptx by Steve Canny and contributors.

License

MIT, inherited from python-pptx. Original work © 2013 Steve Canny and the python-pptx contributors; fork additions © 2026 Paper Instruments, Inc. See LICENSE.