Manage Autofit Settings

By default, when you add a textbox, Microsoft PowerPoint uses the Resize shape to fix text setting for the textbox—it automatically resizes the textbox to ensure its text always fits into it.

textbox-in-powerpoint

When the text in the textbox becomes longer or bigger, PowerPoint automatically enlarges the textbox—increases its height—to allow it to hold more text.
When the text in the textbox becomes shorter or smaller, PowerPoint automatically reduces the textbox—decreases its height—to clear redundant space.

In PowerPoint, these are the 4 important parameters or options that control the autofit behavior for a textbox:

Do not Autofit
Shrink text on overflow
Resize shape to fit text
Wrap text in shape.

autofit-options-powerpoint

Aspose.Slides for Python via .NET provides similar options—some properties under the text_frame_format class—that allow you to control the autofit behavior for textboxes in presentations.

Resize Shape to Fit Text

If you want the text in a box to always fit into that box after changes are made to the text, you have to use the Resize shape to fix text option. To specify this setting, set the autofit_type property (from the text_frame_format class) to SHAPE.

alwaysfit-setting-powerpoint

This Python code shows you how to specify that a text must always fit into its box in a PowerPoint presentation:

import aspose.slides as slides
import aspose.pydrawing as draw

with slides.Presentation() as pres:
    slide = pres.slides[0]
    autoShape = slide.shapes.add_auto_shape(slides.ShapeType.RECTANGLE, 30, 30, 350, 100)

    portion = slides.Portion("lorem ipsum...")
    portion.portion_format.fill_format.solid_fill_color.color = draw.Color.black
    portion.portion_format.fill_format.fill_type = slides.FillType.SOLID
    autoShape.text_frame.paragraphs[0].portions.add(portion)

    textFrameFormat = autoShape.text_frame.text_frame_format
    textFrameFormat.autofit_type = slides.TextAutofitType.SHAPE

    pres.save("Output-presentation.pptx", slides.export.SaveFormat.PPTX)

If the text becomes longer or bigger, the textbox will be automatically resized (increase in height) to ensure all the text fits into it. If the text becomes shorter, the reverse occurs.

Do Not Autofit

If you want a textbox or shape to retain its dimensions no matter the changes made to the text it contains, you have to use the Do not Autofit option. To specify this setting, set the autofit_type property (from the text_frame_format class) to NONE.

donotautofit-setting-powerpoint

This Python code shows you how to specify that a textbox must always retain its dimensions in a PowerPoint presentation:

import aspose.slides as slides
import aspose.pydrawing as draw

with slides.Presentation() as pres:
    slide = pres.slides[0]
    autoShape = slide.shapes.add_auto_shape(slides.ShapeType.RECTANGLE, 30, 30, 350, 100)

    portion = slides.Portion("lorem ipsum...")
    portion.portion_format.fill_format.solid_fill_color.color = draw.Color.black
    portion.portion_format.fill_format.fill_type = slides.FillType.SOLID
    autoShape.text_frame.paragraphs[0].portions.add(portion)

    textFrameFormat = autoShape.text_frame.text_frame_format
    textFrameFormat.autofit_type = slides.TextAutofitType.NONE

    pres.save("Output-presentation.pptx", slides.export.SaveFormat.PPTX)

When the text becomes too long for its box, it spills out.

Shrink Text on Overflow

If a text becomes too long for its box, through the Shrink text on overflow option, you can specify that the text’s size and spacing must be reduced to make it fit into its box. To specify this setting, set the autofit_type property (from the text_frame_format class) to NORMAL.

shrinktextonoverflow-setting-powerpoint

This Python code shows you how to specify that a text must be shrunk on overflow in a PowerPoint presentation:

import aspose.slides as slides
import aspose.pydrawing as draw

with slides.Presentation() as pres:
    slide = pres.slides[0]
    autoShape = slide.shapes.add_auto_shape(slides.ShapeType.RECTANGLE, 30, 30, 350, 100)

    portion = slides.Portion("lorem ipsum...")
    portion.portion_format.fill_format.solid_fill_color.color = draw.Color.black
    portion.portion_format.fill_format.fill_type = slides.FillType.SOLID
    autoShape.text_frame.paragraphs[0].portions.add(portion)

    textFrameFormat = autoShape.text_frame.text_frame_format
    textFrameFormat.autofit_type = slides.TextAutofitType.NORMAL

    pres.save("Output-presentation.pptx", slides.export.SaveFormat.PPTX)

Info

When the Shrink text on overflow option is used, the setting gets applied only when the text becomes too long for its box.

Wrap Text

If you want the text in a shape to get wrapped inside that shape when the text goes beyond the shape’s border (width only), you have to use the Wrap text in shape parameter. To specify this setting, you have to set the wrap_text property (from the TextFrameFormat class) to 1.

This Python code shows you how to use the Wrap Text setting in a PowerPoint presentation:

import aspose.slides as slides
import aspose.pydrawing as draw

with slides.Presentation() as pres:
    slide = pres.slides[0]
    autoShape = slide.shapes.add_auto_shape(slides.ShapeType.RECTANGLE, 30, 30, 350, 100)

    portion = slides.Portion("lorem ipsum...")
    portion.portion_format.fill_format.solid_fill_color.color = draw.Color.black
    portion.portion_format.fill_format.fill_type = slides.FillType.SOLID
    autoShape.text_frame.paragraphs[0].portions.add(portion)

    textFrameFormat = autoShape.text_frame.text_frame_format
    textFrameFormat.autofit_type = slides.TextAutofitType.NONE
    textFrameFormat.wrap_text = 1

    pres.save("Output-presentation.pptx", slides.export.SaveFormat.PPTX)

Note

If you set the wrap_text property to 0 for a shape, when the text inside the shape becomes longer than the shape’s width, the text gets extended beyond the shape’s borders along a single line.

Manage TextBox Manage PowerPoint Paragraph in Python