Manage TextBox

Texts on slides typically exist in text boxes or shapes. Therefore, to add text to a slide, you have to add a textbox first and then put some text inside the textbox.

To allow you add a shape that can hold text, Aspose.Slides for .NET provides the IAutoShape interface.

Note

Aspose.Slides also provides the IShape interface to allow you to add shapes to slides. However, not all shapes added through the IShape interface can hold text. Shapes added through the IAutoShape interface typically contain text.

Therefore, when dealing with an existing shape to which you want to add text, you may want to check and confirm that it was cast through the IAutoShape interface. Only then will you be able to work with TextFrame, which is a property under IAutoShape. See the Update Text section on this page.

Create Text Box on Slide

Create an instance of the Presentation class.
Get the first slide’s reference through its index.
Add an IAutoShape object with ShapeType set as Rectangle at a specified position on the slide and obtain the reference for the newly added IAutoShape object.
Add a TextFrame property to the IAutoShape object that will contain a text. In the example below, we added this text: Aspose TextBox
Finally, write the PPTX file through the Presentation object.

This C# code—an implementation of the steps above—shows you how to add text to a slide:

// Instantiates PresentationEx
using (Presentation pres = new Presentation())
{

    // Gets the first slide in the presentation
    ISlide sld = pres.Slides[0];

    // Adds an AutoShape with type set as Rectangle
    IAutoShape ashp = sld.Shapes.AddAutoShape(ShapeType.Rectangle, 150, 75, 150, 50);

    // Adds TextFrame to the Rectangle
    ashp.AddTextFrame(" ");

    // Accesses the text frame
    ITextFrame txtFrame = ashp.TextFrame;

    // Creates the Paragraph object for text frame
    IParagraph para = txtFrame.Paragraphs[0];

    // Creates a Portion object for the paragraph
    IPortion portion = para.Portions[0];

    // Sets the text
    portion.Text = "Aspose TextBox";

    // Saves the presentation to disk
    pres.Save("TextBox_out.pptx", Aspose.Slides.Export.SaveFormat.Pptx);
}

Check for Text Box Shape

Aspose.Slides provides the IsTextBox property from the IAutoShape interface, allowing you to examine shapes and identify text boxes.

Text box and shape

This C# code shows you how to check whether a shape was created as a text box:

using (Presentation presentation = new Presentation("sample.pptx"))
{
    Aspose.Slides.LowCode.ForEach.Shape(presentation, (shape, slide, index) =>
    {
        if (shape is IAutoShape autoShape)
        {
            Console.WriteLine(autoShape.IsTextBox ? "shape is a text box" : "shape is not a text box");
        }
    });
}

Note that if you simply add an autoshape using the AddAutoShape method from the IShapeCollection interface, the IsTextBox property of the autoshape will return false. However, after you add text to the autoshape using the AddTextFrame method or the Text property, the IsTextBox property returns true.

using (Presentation presentation = new Presentation())
{
    ISlide slide = presentation.Slides[0];

    IAutoShape shape1 = slide.Shapes.AddAutoShape(ShapeType.Rectangle, 10, 10, 100, 40);
    // shape1.IsTextBox is false
    shape1.AddTextFrame("shape 1");
    // shape1.IsTextBox is true

    IAutoShape shape2 = slide.Shapes.AddAutoShape(ShapeType.Rectangle, 10, 110, 100, 40);
    // shape2.IsTextBox is false
    shape2.TextFrame.Text = "shape 2";
    // shape2.IsTextBox is true

    IAutoShape shape3 = slide.Shapes.AddAutoShape(ShapeType.Rectangle, 10, 210, 100, 40);
    // shape3.IsTextBox is false
    shape3.AddTextFrame("");
    // shape3.IsTextBox is false

    IAutoShape shape4 = slide.Shapes.AddAutoShape(ShapeType.Rectangle, 10, 310, 100, 40);
    // shape4.IsTextBox is false
    shape4.TextFrame.Text = "";
    // shape4.IsTextBox is false
}

Add Column in Text Box

Aspose.Slides provides the ColumnCount and ColumnSpacing properties (from the ITextFrameFormat interface and TextFrameFormat class) to allow you to add columns to textboxes. You get to specify the number of columns in a text box and then specify the spacing in points between columns.

This code in C# demonstrates the described operation:

using (Presentation presentation = new Presentation())
{
	// Gets the first slide in the presentation
	ISlide slide = presentation.Slides[0];

	// Add an AutoShape with type set as Rectangle
	IAutoShape aShape = slide.Shapes.AddAutoShape(ShapeType.Rectangle, 100, 100, 300, 300);

	// Add TextFrame to the Rectangle
	aShape.AddTextFrame("All these columns are limited to be within a single text container -- " +
	"you can add or delete text and the new or remaining text automatically adjusts " +
	"itself to flow within the container. You cannot have text flow from one container " +
	"to other though -- we told you PowerPoint's column options for text are limited!");

	// Gets the text format of TextFrame
	ITextFrameFormat format = aShape.TextFrame.TextFrameFormat;

	// Specifies the number of columns in TextFrame
	format.ColumnCount = 3;

	// Specifies the spacing between columns
	format.ColumnSpacing = 10;

	// Saves the presentation
	presentation.Save("ColumnCount.pptx", SaveFormat.Pptx);
}

Add Column in Text Frame

Aspose.Slides for .NET provides the ColumnCount property (from the ITextFrameFormat interface) that allows you to add columns in text frames. Through this property, you can specify your preferred number of columns in a text frame.

This C# code shows you how to add a column inside a text frame:

string outPptxFileName = "ColumnsTest.pptx";
using (Presentation pres = new Presentation())
{
    IAutoShape shape1 = pres.Slides[0].Shapes.AddAutoShape(ShapeType.Rectangle, 100, 100, 300, 300);
    TextFrameFormat format = (TextFrameFormat)shape1.TextFrame.TextFrameFormat;

    format.ColumnCount = 2;
    shape1.TextFrame.Text = "All these columns are forced to stay within a single text container -- " +
                                "you can add or delete text - and the new or remaining text automatically adjusts " +
                                "itself to stay within the container. You cannot have text spill over from one container " +
                                "to other, though -- because PowerPoint's column options for text are limited!";
    pres.Save(outPptxFileName, SaveFormat.Pptx);

    using (Presentation test = new Presentation(outPptxFileName))
    {
        Debug.Assert(2 == ((AutoShape)test.Slides[0].Shapes[0]).TextFrame.TextFrameFormat.ColumnCount);
        Debug.Assert(double.NaN == ((AutoShape)test.Slides[0].Shapes[0]).TextFrame.TextFrameFormat.ColumnSpacing);
    }

    format.ColumnSpacing = 20;
    pres.Save(outPptxFileName, SaveFormat.Pptx);

    using (Presentation test = new Presentation(outPptxFileName))
    {
        Debug.Assert(2 == ((AutoShape)test.Slides[0].Shapes[0]).TextFrame.TextFrameFormat.ColumnCount);
        Debug.Assert(20 == ((AutoShape)test.Slides[0].Shapes[0]).TextFrame.TextFrameFormat.ColumnSpacing);
    }

    format.ColumnCount = 3;
    format.ColumnSpacing = 15;
    pres.Save(outPptxFileName, SaveFormat.Pptx);

    using (Presentation test = new Presentation(outPptxFileName))
    {
        Debug.Assert(3 == ((AutoShape)test.Slides[0].Shapes[0]).TextFrame.TextFrameFormat.ColumnCount);
        Debug.Assert(15 == ((AutoShape)test.Slides[0].Shapes[0]).TextFrame.TextFrameFormat.ColumnSpacing);
    }
}

Update Text

Aspose.Slides allows you to change or update the text contained in a text box or all the texts contained in a presentation.

This C# code demonstrates an operation where all the texts in a presentation are updated or changed:

using(Presentation pres = new Presentation("text.pptx"))
{
   foreach (ISlide slide in pres.Slides)
   {
       foreach (IShape shape in slide.Shapes)
       {
           if (shape is IAutoShape autoShape) //Checks if shape supports text frame (IAutoShape). 
           {
              foreach (IParagraph paragraph in autoShape.TextFrame.Paragraphs) //Iterates through paragraphs in text frame
               {
                   foreach (IPortion portion in paragraph.Portions) //Iterates through each portion in paragraph
                   {
                       portion.Text = portion.Text.Replace("years", "months"); //Changes text
                       portion.PortionFormat.FontBold = NullableBool.True; //Changes formatting
                   }
               }
           }
       }
   }
  
   //Saves the modified presentation
   pres.Save("text-changed.pptx", SaveFormat.Pptx);
}

Add Text Box with Hyperlink

You can insert a link inside a textbox. When the textbox is clicked, users are directed to open the link.

Create an instance of the Presentation class.
Get the first slide’s reference through its index.
Add an AutoShape object with ShapeType set as Rectangle at a specified position on the slide and obtain a reference of the newly added AutoShape object.
Add a TextFrame to the AutoShape object that contains Aspose TextBox as its default text.
Instantiate the IHyperlinkManager class.
Assign the IHyperlinkManager object to the HyperlinkClick property associated with your preferred portion of the TextFrame.
Finally, write the PPTX file through the Presentation object.

This C# code—an implementation of the steps above—shows you how to add a text box with a hyperlink to a slide:

// Instantiates a Presentation class that represents a PPTX
Presentation pptxPresentation = new Presentation();

// Gets the first slide in the presentation
ISlide slide = pptxPresentation.Slides[0];

// Adds an AutoShape object with type set as Rectangle
IShape pptxShape = slide.Shapes.AddAutoShape(ShapeType.Rectangle, 150, 150, 150, 50);

// Casts the shape to AutoShape
IAutoShape pptxAutoShape = (IAutoShape)pptxShape;

// Accesses the ITextFrame property associated with the AutoShape
pptxAutoShape.AddTextFrame("");

ITextFrame ITextFrame = pptxAutoShape.TextFrame;

// Adds some text to the frame
ITextFrame.Paragraphs[0].Portions[0].Text = "Aspose.Slides";

// Sets the Hyperlink for the portion text
IHyperlinkManager HypMan = ITextFrame.Paragraphs[0].Portions[0].PortionFormat.HyperlinkManager;
HypMan.SetExternalHyperlinkClick("http://www.aspose.com");

// Saves the PPTX Presentation
pptxPresentation.Save("hLinkPPTX_out.pptx", Aspose.Slides.Export.SaveFormat.Pptx);

Manage Placeholder Manage Autofit Settings