Manage Table

A table in PowerPoint is an efficient way of displaying and portraying information. The information in a grid of cells (arranged in rows and columns) is straightforward and easy to understand.

Aspose.Slides provides the Table class, ITable interface, Cell class, ICell interface, and other types to allow you to create, update, and manage tables in all kinds of presentations.

Create Table from Scratch

  1. Create an instance of the Presentation class.
  2. Get a slide’s reference through its index.
  3. Define an array of columnWidth.
  4. Define an array of rowHeight.
  5. Add an ITable object to the slide through the add_table(x, y, column_widths, row_heights) method.
  6. Iterate through each ICell to apply formatting to the top, bottom, right, and left borders.
  7. Merge the first two cells of the table’s first row.
  8. Access an ICell’s TextFrame.
  9. Add some text to the TextFrame.
  10. Save the modified presentation.

This Python code shows you how to create a table in a presentation:

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

# Instantiates a Presentation class that represents a PPTX file
with slides.Presentation() as pres:
    # Accesses the first slide
    sld = pres.slides[0]

    # Defines columns with widths and rows with heights
    dblCols =  [50, 50, 50] 
    dblRows =  [50, 30, 30, 30, 30] 

    # Adds a table shape to the slide
    tbl = sld.shapes.add_table(100, 50, dblCols, dblRows)

    # Sets the border format for each cell
    for row in range(len(tbl.rows)):
        for cell in range(len(tbl.rows[row])):
            tbl.rows[row][cell].cell_format.border_top.fill_format.fill_type = slides.FillType.SOLID
            tbl.rows[row][cell].cell_format.border_top.fill_format.solid_fill_color.color = draw.Color.red
            tbl.rows[row][cell].cell_format.border_top.width = 5

            tbl.rows[row][cell].cell_format.border_bottom.fill_format.fill_type = slides.FillType.SOLID
            tbl.rows[row][cell].cell_format.border_bottom.fill_format.solid_fill_color.color= draw.Color.red
            tbl.rows[row][cell].cell_format.border_bottom.width =5

            tbl.rows[row][cell].cell_format.border_left.fill_format.fill_type = slides.FillType.SOLID
            tbl.rows[row][cell].cell_format.border_left.fill_format.solid_fill_color.color =draw.Color.red
            tbl.rows[row][cell].cell_format.border_left.width = 5

            tbl.rows[row][cell].cell_format.border_right.fill_format.fill_type = slides.FillType.SOLID
            tbl.rows[row][cell].cell_format.border_right.fill_format.solid_fill_color.color = draw.Color.red
            tbl.rows[row][cell].cell_format.border_right.width = 5
        

    # Merges cells 1 & 2 of row 1
    tbl.merge_cells(tbl.rows[0][0], tbl.rows[1][1], False)

    # Adds some text to the merged cell
    tbl.rows[0][0].text_frame.text = "Merged Cells"

    # Saves the presentation to Disk
    pres.save("table.pptx", slides.export.SaveFormat.PPTX)

Numbering in Standard Table

In a standard table, the numeration of cells is straightforward and zero-based. The first cell in a table is indexed as 0,0 (column 0, row 0).

For example, the cells in a table with 4 columns and 4 rows are numbered this way:

(0, 0) (1, 0) (2, 0) (3, 0)
(0, 1) (1, 1) (2, 1) (3, 1)
(0, 2) (1, 2) (2, 2) (3, 2)
(0, 3) (1, 3) (2, 3) (3, 3)

This Python code shows you how to specify the numbering for cells in a table:

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

# Instantiates a Presentation class that represents a PPTX file
with slides.Presentation() as pres:
    # Accesses the first slide
    sld = pres.slides[0]

    # Defines columns with widths and rows with heights
    dblCols =  [70, 70, 70, 70] 
    dblRows =  [70, 70, 70, 70] 

    # Adds a table shape to slide
    tbl = sld.shapes.add_table(100, 50, dblCols, dblRows)

    # Sets the border format for each cell
    for row in tbl.rows:
        for cell in row:
            cell.cell_format.border_top.fill_format.fill_type = slides.FillType.SOLID
            cell.cell_format.border_top.fill_format.solid_fill_color.color = draw.Color.red
            cell.cell_format.border_top.width = 5

            cell.cell_format.border_bottom.fill_format.fill_type = slides.FillType.SOLID
            cell.cell_format.border_bottom.fill_format.solid_fill_color.color = draw.Color.red
            cell.cell_format.border_bottom.width = 5

            cell.cell_format.border_left.fill_format.fill_type = slides.FillType.SOLID
            cell.cell_format.border_left.fill_format.solid_fill_color.color = draw.Color.red
            cell.cell_format.border_left.width = 5

            cell.cell_format.border_right.fill_format.fill_type = slides.FillType.SOLID
            cell.cell_format.border_right.fill_format.solid_fill_color.color = draw.Color.red
            cell.cell_format.border_right.width = 5

    # Saves presentation to disk
    pres.save("StandardTables_out.pptx", slides.export.SaveFormat.PPTX)

Access Existing Table

  1. Create an instance of the Presentation class.

  2. Get a reference to the slide containing the table through its index.

  3. Create an ITable object and set it to null.

  4. Iterate through all IShape objects till the table is found.

    If you suspect the slide you are dealing with contains a single table, you can simply check all the shapes it contains. When a shape is identified as a table, you can typecast it as a Table object. But if the slide you are dealing with contains several tables, then you are better off searching for the table you need through its alternative_text .

  5. Use the ITable object to work with the table. In the example below, we added a new row to the table.

  6. Save the modified presentation.

This Python code shows you how to access and work with an existing table:

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

# Instantiates a Presentation class that represents a PPTX file
with slides.Presentation(path + "UpdateExistingTable.pptx") as pres:
    # Accesses the first slide
    sld = pres.slides[0]

    # Initializes null TableEx
    tbl = None

    # Iterates through the shapes and sets a reference to the table found
    for shp in sld.shapes:
        if type(shp) is slides.Table:
            tbl = shp

    # Sets the text for the first column of the second row
    tbl.rows[0][1].text_frame.text = "New"

    # Saves the modified presentation to disk
    pres.save("table1_out.pptx", slides.export.SaveFormat.PPTX)

Align Text in Table

  1. Create an instance of the Presentation class.
  2. Get a slide’s reference through its index.
  3. Add an ITable object to the slide.
  4. Access an ITextFrame object from the table.
  5. Access the ITextFrame IParagraph.
  6. Align the text vertically.
  7. Save the modified presentation.

This Python code shows you how to align the text in a table:

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

# Creates an instance of the Presentation class
with slides.Presentation() as presentation:
    # Gets the first slide 
    slide = presentation.slides[0]

    # Defines columns with widths and rows with heights
    dblCols =  [120, 120, 120, 120] 
    dblRows =  [100, 100, 100, 100] 

    # Adds the table shape to the slide
    tbl = slide.shapes.add_table(100, 50, dblCols, dblRows)
    tbl.rows[1][0].text_frame.text = "10"
    tbl.rows[2][0].text_frame.text = "20"
    tbl.rows[3][0].text_frame.text = "30"

    # Accesses the text frame
    txtFrame = tbl.rows[0][0].text_frame

    # Creates the Paragraph object for the text frame
    paragraph = txtFrame.paragraphs[0]

    # Creates the Portion object for paragraph
    portion = paragraph.portions[0]
    portion.text = "text here"
    portion.portion_format.fill_format.fill_type = slides.FillType.SOLID
    portion.portion_format.fill_format.solid_fill_color.color = draw.Color.black

    # Aligns the text vertically
    cell = tbl.rows[0][0]
    cell.text_anchor_type = slides.TextAnchorType.CENTER
    cell.text_vertical_type = slides.TextVerticalType.VERTICAL270

    # Saves the presentation to disk
    presentation.save("Vertical_Align_Text_out.pptx", slides.export.SaveFormat.PPTX)

Set Text Formatting on Table Level

  1. Create an instance of the Presentation class.
  2. Get a slide’s reference through its index.
  3. Access an ITable object from the Slide.
  4. Set the font_height for the text.
  5. Set the alignment and margin_right.
  6. Set the text_vertical_type.
  7. Save the modified presentation.

This Python code shows you how to apply your preferred formatting options to the text in a table:

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

# Creates an instance of the Presentation class
with slides.Presentation() as presentation:
    someTable = presentation.slides[0].shapes.add_table(100, 100, [100, 50, 30], [30, 50, 30])

    # Sets the table cells' font height
    portionFormat = slides.PortionFormat()
    portionFormat.font_height = 25
    someTable.set_text_format(portionFormat)

    # Sets the table cells' text alignment and right margin in one call
    paragraphFormat = slides.ParagraphFormat()
    paragraphFormat.alignment = slides.TextAlignment.RIGHT
    paragraphFormat.margin_right = 20
    someTable.set_text_format(paragraphFormat)

    # Sets the table cells' text vertical type
    textFrameFormat = slides.TextFrameFormat()
    textFrameFormat.text_vertical_type = slides.TextVerticalType.VERTICAL
    someTable.set_text_format(textFrameFormat)


    presentation.save("result.pptx", slides.export.SaveFormat.PPTX)

Get Table Style Properties

Aspose.Slides allows you to retrieve the style properties for a table so that you can use those details for another table or somewhere else. This Python code shows you how to get the style properties from a table preset style:

import aspose.slides as slides

with slides.Presentation() as pres:
    table = pres.slides[0].shapes.add_table(10, 10, [100, 150], [5, 5, 5])
    table.style_preset = slides.TableStylePreset.DARK_STYLE1
    pres.save("table.pptx", slides.export.SaveFormat.PPTX)

Lock Aspect Ratio of Table

The aspect ratio of a geometric shape is the ratio of its sizes in different dimensions. Aspose.Slides provided the aspect_ratio_locked property to allow you to lock the aspect ratio setting for tables and other shapes.

This Python code shows you how to lock the aspect ratio for a table:

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

with slides.Presentation() as pres:
    table = pres.slides[0].shapes.add_table(100, 100, [100, 50, 30], [30, 50, 30])
    print("Lock aspect ratio set: {0}".format(table.shape_lock.aspect_ratio_locked))

    table.shape_lock.aspect_ratio_locked = not table.shape_lock.aspect_ratio_locked

    print("Lock aspect ratio set: {0}".format(table.shape_lock.aspect_ratio_locked))

    pres.save("pres-out.pptx", slides.export.SaveFormat.PPTX)
Manage Rows and Columns