Retrieve and Update Presentation Information in Python

Aspose.Slides for Python via .NET allows you to examine a presentation to find out its properties and understand its behavior.

Info

The PresentationInfo and DocumentProperties classes contain the properties and methods used in operations here.

Check a Presentation Format

Before working on a presentation, you may want to find out what format (PPT, PPTX, ODP, and others) the presentation is in at the moment.

You can check a presentation’s format without loading the presentation. See this Python code:

import aspose.slides as slides

info1 = slides.PresentationFactory.instance.get_presentation_info("pres.pptx")
print(info1.load_format, info1.load_format == slides.LoadFormat.PPTX)

info2 = slides.PresentationFactory.instance.get_presentation_info("pres.odp")
print(info2.load_format, info2.load_format == slides.LoadFormat.ODP)

info3 = slides.PresentationFactory.instance.get_presentation_info("pres.ppt")
print(info3.load_format, info3.load_format == slides.LoadFormat.PPT)

Get Presentation Properties

This Python code shows you how to get presentation properties (information about the presentation):

import aspose.slides as slides

info = slides.PresentationFactory.instance.get_presentation_info("pres.pptx")
props = info.read_document_properties()
print(props.created_time)
print(props.subject)
print(props.title)

You may want to see the properties under the DocumentProperties class.

Update Presentation Properties

Aspose.Slides provides the PresentationInfo.update_document_properties method that allows you to make changes to presentation properties.

Let’s say we have a PowerPoint presentation with the document properties shown below.

This code example shows you how to edit some presentation properties:

file_name = "sample.pptx"

info = PresentationFactory.instance.get_presentation_info(file_name)

properties = info.read_document_properties()
properties.title = "My title"
properties.last_saved_time = datetime.now()

info.update_document_properties(properties)
info.write_binded_presentation(file_name)

The results of changing the document properties are shown below.

Useful Links

To get more information about a presentation and its security attributes, you may find these links useful:

• Checking whether a Presentation is Encrypted
• Checking whether a Presentation is Write Protected (read-only)
• Checking whether a Presentation is Password Protected Before Loading it
• Confirming the Password Used to Protect a Presentation.

FAQ

How can I check whether fonts are embedded and which ones they are?

Look for embedded-font information at the presentation level, then compare those entries with the set of fonts actually used across content to identify which fonts are critical for rendering.

How can I quickly tell if the file has hidden slides and how many?

Iterate through the slide collection and inspect each slide’s visibility flag.

Can I detect whether custom slide size and orientation are used, and whether they differ from the defaults?

Yes. Compare the current slide size and orientation with the standard presets; this helps anticipate behavior for printing and export.

Is there a quick way to see if charts reference external data sources?

Yes. Traverse all charts, check their data source, and note whether the data is internal or link-based, including any broken links.

How can I assess ‘heavy’ slides that may slow rendering or PDF export?

For each slide, tally object counts and look for large images, transparency, shadows, animations, and multimedia; assign a rough complexity score to flag potential performance hotspots.