Export Presentations to Markdown

What this page is about

Runnable C# example for export presentations to markdown using Aspose.Slides for .NET, with input generation, outputs and a complete project.

Export headings, text, lists, tables and images to Markdown using visual export. The example explicitly writes images under the images subfolder of its working directory. Copy that folder with slides.md so its relative image links continue to work.

Run the example

Download the complete project. It includes all source, SDK settings and locked NuGet dependencies. The code creates its own four-slide input with a hidden slide, speaker notes, a table, chart and picture.

These projects were tested on Windows x64 with Arial and the .NET SDK 8.0.427 pinned by global.json. Their synthetic picture generator uses System.Drawing on Windows. For a separately tested Linux environment, see the Docker converter. Restore the pinned Aspose.Slides.NET package and set ASPOSE_LICENSE_PATH to your license file for unrestricted results; evaluation mode adds a watermark and limits extracted text. See installation and licensing.

dotnet run --project Example.csproj --configuration Release

Complete C# example

using System;
using System.IO;
using System.Linq;
using System.Drawing;
using System.Text.Json;
using Aspose.Slides;
using Aspose.Slides.Animation;
using Aspose.Slides.Charts;
using Aspose.Slides.Export;
using Aspose.Slides.SlideShow;

internal static class Program
{
    private static void Main()
    {
        var licensePath = Environment.GetEnvironmentVariable("ASPOSE_LICENSE_PATH");
        if (!string.IsNullOrWhiteSpace(licensePath)) new License().SetLicense(licensePath);
        using var source = CreateSource();
        source.Save("source.pptx", SaveFormat.Pptx);
        var list = source.Slides[2].Shapes.AddAutoShape(ShapeType.Rectangle, 300, 110, 300, 150);
        list.TextFrame.Text = "First point\nSecond point";
        foreach (var paragraph in list.TextFrame.Paragraphs)
        {
            paragraph.ParagraphFormat.Bullet.Type = BulletType.Symbol;
            paragraph.ParagraphFormat.Bullet.Char = (char)8226;
        }
        var options = new MarkdownSaveOptions
        {
            ExportType = MarkdownExportType.Visual,
            BasePath = Directory.GetCurrentDirectory(),
            ImagesSaveFolderName = "images",
            ShowSlideNumber = true
        };
        source.Save("slides.md", SaveFormat.Md, options);
        string markdown = File.ReadAllText("slides.md");
        if (!markdown.Contains("Alpha") || !markdown.Contains("Pens")) throw new InvalidOperationException("Expected text/table data missing.");
        bool imagesExported = Directory.Exists("images") && Directory.GetFiles("images", "*", SearchOption.AllDirectories).Length > 0;
        if (!markdown.Contains("First point") || !imagesExported) throw new InvalidOperationException("List/image output is missing.");
        Report(new { slide_text = markdown.Contains("Alpha"), table_value = markdown.Contains("12"), list_text = true, images_exported = imagesExported });
    }

    private static Presentation CreateSource()
    {
        var deck = new Presentation();
        deck.SlideSize.SetSize(640, 360, SlideSizeScaleType.DoNotScale);
        var layout = deck.LayoutSlides.GetByType(SlideLayoutType.Blank);
        string[] labels = { "Alpha", "Bravo", "Charlie", "Hidden" };
        for (int i = 0; i < labels.Length; i++)
        {
            var slide = i == 0 ? deck.Slides[0] : deck.Slides.AddEmptySlide(layout);
            var shape = slide.Shapes.AddAutoShape(ShapeType.Rectangle, 30, 20, 580, 55);
            shape.TextFrame.Text = labels[i];
            shape.TextFrame.Paragraphs[0].Portions[0].PortionFormat.LatinFont = new FontData("Arial");
            shape.TextFrame.Paragraphs[0].Portions[0].PortionFormat.FontHeight = 26;
            slide.NotesSlideManager.AddNotesSlide().NotesTextFrame.Text = "Speaker note " + labels[i];
            slide.Hidden = i == 3;
        }
        var table = deck.Slides[0].Shapes.AddTable(30, 100, new double[] { 140, 100 }, new double[] { 35, 35 });
        table[0, 0].TextFrame.Text = "Product";
        table[1, 0].TextFrame.Text = "Units";
        table[0, 1].TextFrame.Text = "Pens";
        table[1, 1].TextFrame.Text = "12";
        deck.Slides[1].Shapes.AddChart(ChartType.ClusteredColumn, 30, 100, 400, 220);
        using (var bitmap = new Bitmap(100, 60))
        {
            using (var graphics = Graphics.FromImage(bitmap)) graphics.Clear(Color.CornflowerBlue);
            using var stream = new MemoryStream();
            bitmap.Save(stream, System.Drawing.Imaging.ImageFormat.Png);
            var image = deck.Images.AddImage(stream.ToArray());
            deck.Slides[2].Shapes.AddPictureFrame(ShapeType.Rectangle, 50, 120, 200, 120, image);
        }
        deck.Slides[0].Timeline.MainSequence.AddEffect(deck.Slides[0].Shapes[0], EffectType.Fade, EffectSubtype.None, EffectTriggerType.AfterPrevious);
        deck.Slides[0].SlideShowTransition.Type = TransitionType.Fade;
        return deck;
    }

    private static void Report(object values)
    {
        string json = JsonSerializer.Serialize(values, new JsonSerializerOptions { WriteIndented = true });
        File.WriteAllText("result.json", json);
        Console.WriteLine(json);
    }
}

Expected result

The program writes “slides.md” beside the project, plus the synthetic source.pptx and a result.json summary. Inspect the rendered/exported files with the viewer appropriate to the format. Input generation is visible in CreateSource; replace it with opening your own presentation when adapting the example.

Continue with the detailed guide.