Convert PPT and PPTX to PDF in C++ [Advanced Features Included]

Overview

Converting PowerPoint presentations (PPT, PPTX, ODP, etc.) into PDF format in C++ offers several advantages, including compatibility across different devices and preserving the layout and formatting of your presentation. This guide demonstrates how to convert presentations to PDF documents, use various options to control image quality, include hidden slides, password-protect PDF files, detect font substitutions, select specific slides for conversion, and apply compliance standards to output documents.

PowerPoint to PDF Conversions

Using Aspose.Slides, you can convert presentations in the following formats to PDF:

• PPT
• PPTX
• ODP

To convert a presentation to PDF, pass the file name as an argument to the Presentation class and then save the presentation as a PDF using a Save method. The Presentation class exposes the Save method that is typically used to convert a presentation to PDF.

NOTE

Aspose.Slides for C++ inserts its API information and version number into output documents. For example, when converting a presentation to PDF, Aspose.Slides populates the Application field with “Aspose.Slides” and the PDF Producer field with a value in “Aspose.Slides v XX.XX” form. Note that you cannot instruct Aspose.Slides to change or remove this information from output documents.

Aspose.Slides allows you to convert:

• Entire presentations to PDF
• Specific slides from a presentation to PDF

Aspose.Slides exports presentations to PDF, ensuring the resulting PDFs closely match the original presentations. Elements and attributes are rendered accurately in the conversion, including:

• Images
• Text boxes and shapes
• Text formatting
• Paragraph formatting
• Hyperlinks
• Headers and footers
• Bullets
• Tables

Convert PowerPoint to PDF

The standard PowerPoint-to-PDF conversion process uses default options. In this case, Aspose.Slides tries to convert the provided presentation to PDF using optimal settings at the maximum quality levels.

This C++ code shows you how to convert a presentation (PPT, PPTX, ODP, etc.) to PDF:

// Instantiate the Presentation class that represents a PowerPoint or OpenDocument file.
auto presentation = MakeObject<Presentation>(u"PowerPoint.ppt");

// Save the presentation as a PDF.
presentation->Save(u"PPT-to-PDF.pdf", SaveFormat::Pdf);

presentation->Dispose();

Aspose offers a free online PowerPoint to PDF converter that demonstrates the presentation-to-PDF conversion process. You can run a test with this converter for a live implementation of the procedure described here.

Convert PowerPoint to PDF with Options

Aspose.Slides provides custom options—properties under the PdfOptions class—that allow you to customize the resulting PDF, lock the PDF with a password, or specify how the conversion process should proceed.

Convert PowerPoint to PDF with Custom Options

Using custom conversion options, you can define your preferred quality setting for raster images, specify how metafiles should be handled, set a compression level for text, configure DPI for images, and more.

The code example below demonstrates how to convert a PowerPoint presentation to PDF with several custom options.

// Instantiate the PdfOptions class.
auto pdfOptions = MakeObject<PdfOptions>();

// Set the quality for JPG images.
pdfOptions->set_JpegQuality(90);

// Set DPI for images.
pdfOptions->set_SufficientResolution(300);

// Set the behavior for metafiles.
pdfOptions->set_SaveMetafilesAsPng(true);

// Set the text compression level for textual content.
pdfOptions->set_TextCompression(PdfTextCompression::Flate);

// Define the PDF compliance mode.
pdfOptions->set_Compliance(PdfCompliance::Pdf15);

// Instantiate the Presentation class that represents a PowerPoint or OpenDocument file.
auto presentation = MakeObject<Presentation>(u"PowerPoint.pptx");

// Save the presentation as a PDF document.
presentation->Save(u"PowerPoint-to-PDF.pdf", SaveFormat::Pdf, pdfOptions);

presentation->Dispose();

Convert PowerPoint to PDF with Hidden Slides

If a presentation contains hidden slides, you can use the set_ShowHiddenSlides method from the PdfOptions class to include the hidden slides as pages in the resulting PDF.

This C++ code shows how to convert a PowerPoint presentation to PDF with hidden slides included:

// Instantiate the Presentation class that represents a PowerPoint or OpenDocument file.
auto presentation = MakeObject<Presentation>(u"PowerPoint.pptx");

// Instantiate the PdfOptions class.
auto pdfOptions = MakeObject<PdfOptions>();

// Add hidden slides.
pdfOptions->set_ShowHiddenSlides(true);

// Save the presentation as a PDF.
presentation->Save(u"PowerPoint-to-PDF.pdf", SaveFormat::Pdf, pdfOptions);

presentation->Dispose();

Convert PowerPoint to Password Protected PDF

This С++ code demonstrates how to convert a PowerPoint presentation into a password-protected PDF using the protection parameters from the PdfOptions class:

// Instantiate the Presentation class that represents a PowerPoint or OpenDocument file.
auto presentation = MakeObject<Presentation>(u"PowerPoint.pptx");

// Instantiate the PdfOptions class.
auto pdfOptions = MakeObject<PdfOptions>();

// Set a PDF password and access permissions.
pdfOptions->set_Password(u"password");
pdfOptions->set_AccessPermissions(PdfAccessPermissions::PrintDocument | PdfAccessPermissions::HighQualityPrint);

// Save the presentation as a PDF.
presentation->Save(u"PPTX-to-PDF.pdf", SaveFormat::Pdf, pdfOptions);

presentation->Dispose();

Detect Font Substitutions**

Aspose.Slides provides the set_WarningCallback method under the PdfOptions class, enabling you to detect font substitutions during the presentation-to-PDF conversion process.

This C++ code shows how to detect font substitutions:

// Implementation of the warning callback.
class FontSubstitutionHandler : public IWarningCallback
{
public:
    ReturnAction Warning(SharedPtr<IWarningInfo> warning) override;
};

ReturnAction FontSubstitutionHandler::Warning(SharedPtr<IWarningInfo> warning)
{
    if (warning->get_WarningType() == WarningType::DataLoss && 
        warning->get_Description().StartsWith(u"Font will be substituted"))
    {
        Console::WriteLine(u"Font substitution warning: {0}", warning->get_Description());
    }

    return ReturnAction::Continue;
}

int main()
{
    // Instantiate the Presentation class that represents a PowerPoint or OpenDocument file.
    auto presentation = MakeObject<Presentation>(u"sample.pptx");

    // Set the warning callback in PDF options.
    auto pdfOptions = MakeObject<PdfOptions>();
    pdfOptions->set_WarningCallback(MakeObject<FontSubstitutionHandler>());

    // Save the presentation as a PDF.
    presentation->Save(u"output.pdf", SaveFormat::Pdf, pdfOptions);
    
    presentation->Dispose();

    return 0;
}

For more information on receiving callbacks for font substitutions during the rendering process, see Getting Warning Callbacks for Fonts Substitution.

For more information on font substitution, see the Font Substitution article.

Convert Selected Slides from PowerPoint to PDF

This C++ code demonstrates how to convert only specific slides from a PowerPoint presentation to PDF:

// Instantiate the Presentation class that represents a PowerPoint or OpenDocument file.
auto presentation = MakeObject<Presentation>(u"PowerPoint.pptx");

// Set array of slide numbers.
auto slides = MakeArray<int32_t>({ 1, 3 });

// Save the presentation as a PDF.
presentation->Save(u"PPTX-to-PDF.pdf", slides, SaveFormat::Pdf);

presentation->Dispose();

Convert PowerPoint to PDF with Custom Slide Size

This C++ code demonstrates how to convert a PowerPoint presentation to PDF with a specified slide size:

auto slideWidth = 612;
auto slideHeight = 792;

// Instantiate the Presentation class that represents a PowerPoint or OpenDocument file.
auto presentation = MakeObject<Presentation>(u"SelectedSlides.pptx");

// Create a new presentation with an adjusted slide size.
auto resizedPresentation = MakeObject<Presentation>();

// Set the custom slide size.
resizedPresentation->get_SlideSize()->SetSize(slideWidth, slideHeight, SlideSizeScaleType::EnsureFit);

// Clone the first slide from the original presentation.
auto slide = presentation->get_Slide(0);
resizedPresentation->get_Slides()->InsertClone(0, slide);

// Save the resized presentation to a PDF with notes.
resizedPresentation->Save(u"PDF_with_notes.pdf", SaveFormat::Pdf);

resizedPresentation->Dispose();
presentation->Dispose();

Convert PowerPoint to PDF in Notes Slide View

This C++ code demonstrates how to convert a PowerPoint presentation to a PDF that includes notes:

// Instantiate the Presentation class that represents a PowerPoint or OpenDocument file.
auto presentation = MakeObject<Presentation>(u"SelectedSlides.pptx");

// Configure the PDF options with Notes Layout.
auto notesOptions = MakeObject<NotesCommentsLayoutingOptions>();
notesOptions->set_NotesPosition(NotesPositions::BottomFull);
auto pdfOptions = MakeObject<PdfOptions>();
pdfOptions->set_SlidesLayoutOptions(notesOptions);

// Save the presentation to a PDF with notes.
presentation->Save(u"PDF_with_notes.tiff", SaveFormat::Pdf, pdfOptions);

presentation->Dispose();

Accessibility and Compliance Standards for PDF

Aspose.Slides allows you to use a conversion procedure that complies with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG). You can export a PowerPoint document to PDF using any of these compliance standards: PDF/A1a, PDF/A1b, and PDF/UA.

This C++ code demonstrates a PowerPoint-to-PDF conversion process that produces multiple PDFs based on different compliance standards:

auto presentation = MakeObject<Presentation>(u"pres.pptx");

auto pdfOptionsA1a = MakeObject<PdfOptions>();

pdfOptionsA1a->set_Compliance(PdfCompliance::PdfA1a);
presentation->Save(u"pres-a1a-compliance.pdf", SaveFormat::Pdf, pdfOptionsA1a);

auto pdfOptionsA1b = MakeObject<PdfOptions>();
pdfOptionsA1b->set_Compliance(PdfCompliance::PdfA1b);
presentation->Save(u"pres-a1b-compliance.pdf", SaveFormat::Pdf, pdfOptionsA1b);

auto pdfOptionsUa = MakeObject<PdfOptions>();
pdfOptionsUa->set_Compliance(PdfCompliance::PdfUa);

presentation->Save(u"pres-ua-compliance.pdf", SaveFormat::Pdf, pdfOptionsUa);

presentation->Dispose();

Note

Aspose.Slides supports PDF conversion operations, allowing you to convert PDF files to popular file formats. You can perform PDF to HTML, PDF to image, PDF to JPG, and PDF to PNG conversions. Other PDF conversion operations to specialized formats—PDF to SVG, PDF to TIFF, and PDF to XML—are also supported.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. Can I convert multiple PowerPoint files to PDF in bulk?

Yes, Aspose.Slides supports batch conversion of multiple PPT or PPTX files to PDF. You can iterate through your files and apply the conversion process programmatically.

2. Is it possible to password-protect the converted PDF?

Absolutely. Use the PdfOptions class to set a password and define access permissions during the conversion process.

3. How do I include hidden slides in the PDF?

Use the set_ShowHiddenSlides method in the PdfOptions class to include hidden slides in the resulting PDF.

4. Can Aspose.Slides maintain high image quality in the PDF?

Yes, you can control image quality by using methods such as set_JpegQuality and set_SufficientResolution in the PdfOptions class to ensure high-quality images in your PDF.

5. Does Aspose.Slides support PDF/A compliance standards?

Yes, Aspose.Slides allows you to export PDFs that comply with various standards, including PDF/A1a, PDF/A1b, and PDF/UA, ensuring your documents meet accessibility and archival requirements.

Additional Resources

• Aspose.Slides for C++ Documentation
• Aspose.Slides for C++ API Reference
• Aspose Free Online Converters