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I'm attempting to convert PPT files to PPTX files using VBSCRIPT. I haven't used VB in a very long time & am pretty unfamiliar with the framework. I'm attempting to modify a script that converts PPTX/PPT to PDF, however without much luck. Here's an example of what I've got so far...

Option Explicit Dim inputFile Dim objPPT Dim objPresentation Dim objPrintOptions Dim objFso Dim pptf If WScript.Arguments.Count <> 1 Then WriteLine "You need to specify input and output files." WScript.Quit End If inputFile = WScript.Arguments(0) Set objFso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") If Not objFso.FileExists( inputFile ) Then WriteLine "Unable to find your input file " & inputFile WScript.Quit End If WriteLine "Input File: " & inputFile Set objPPT = CreateObject( "PowerPoint.Application" ) objPPT.Visible = True objPPT.Presentations.Open inputFile Set objPresentation = objPPT.ActivePresentation objPresentation.SaveAs "out.pptx", Microsoft.Office.Interop.PowerPoint.PpSaveAsFileType.ppSaveAsOpenXMLPresentation objPresentation.Close ObjPPT.Quit

Things turn pear shaped around the objPresentation.SaveAs line; obviously its illegal syntax - however I'm not sure of the best route here. Any help would be much appreciated. Also if there are other variables (or a link to api documentation) for converting doc->docx, and xls->xlsx. Thanks in advance.

EDIT: I found a solution to this myself; sorry I stopped checking in on this thread a few days after posted it. I found a documentation page for this code & noticed one function in particular (convert2): http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ff743830.aspx

I'll mark the answer below as the answer; because it came first (although I haven't tested it). If you're interested - heres my code; AFAIK it only converts in between various PowerPoint formats (in either direction). Also FYI I modified this script from another popularly googlized script on the topic; the only line I changed was one of the last (the convert2 mehtod). Anyways... (also - this requires office 2010; per the documentation)

Usage: CSCRIPT scriptName.vbs C:\inputfileName.ppt C:\outputFileName.pptx

Option Explicit Sub WriteLine ( strLine ) WScript.Stdout.WriteLine strLine End Sub ' http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/aa432714(v=office.12).aspx Const msoFalse = 0 ' False. Const msoTrue = -1 ' True. ' http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/bb265636(v=office.12).aspx Const ppFixedFormatIntentScreen = 1 ' Intent is to view exported file on screen. Const ppFixedFormatIntentPrint = 2 ' Intent is to print exported file. ' http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ff746754.aspx Const ppFixedFormatTypeXPS = 1 ' XPS format Const ppFixedFormatTypePDF = 2 ' PDF format ' http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ff744564.aspx Const ppPrintHandoutVerticalFirst = 1 ' Slides are ordered vertically, with the first slide in the upper-left corner and the second slide below it. Const ppPrintHandoutHorizontalFirst = 2 ' Slides are ordered horizontally, with the first slide in the upper-left corner and the second slide to the right of it. ' http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ff744185.aspx Const ppPrintOutputSlides = 1 ' Slides Const ppPrintOutputTwoSlideHandouts = 2 ' Two Slide Handouts Const ppPrintOutputThreeSlideHandouts = 3 ' Three Slide Handouts Const ppPrintOutputSixSlideHandouts = 4 ' Six Slide Handouts Const ppPrintOutputNotesPages = 5 ' Notes Pages Const ppPrintOutputOutline = 6 ' Outline Const ppPrintOutputBuildSlides = 7 ' Build Slides Const ppPrintOutputFourSlideHandouts = 8 ' Four Slide Handouts Const ppPrintOutputNineSlideHandouts = 9 ' Nine Slide Handouts Const ppPrintOutputOneSlideHandouts = 10 ' Single Slide Handouts ' http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ff745585.aspx Const ppPrintAll = 1 ' Print all slides in the presentation. Const ppPrintSelection = 2 ' Print a selection of slides. Const ppPrintCurrent = 3 ' Print the current slide from the presentation. Const ppPrintSlideRange = 4 ' Print a range of slides. Const ppPrintNamedSlideShow = 5 ' Print a named slideshow. ' http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ff744228.aspx Const ppShowAll = 1 ' Show all. Const ppShowNamedSlideShow = 3 ' Show named slideshow. Const ppShowSlideRange = 2 ' Show slide range. ' ' This is the actual script ' Dim inputFile Dim outputFile Dim objPPT Dim objPresentation Dim objPrintOptions Dim objFso If WScript.Arguments.Count <> 2 Then WriteLine "You need to specify input and output files." WScript.Quit End If inputFile = WScript.Arguments(0) outputFile = WScript.Arguments(1) Set objFso = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") If Not objFso.FileExists( inputFile ) Then WriteLine "Unable to find your input file " & inputFile WScript.Quit End If If objFso.FileExists( outputFile ) Then WriteLine "Your output file (' & outputFile & ') already exists!" WScript.Quit End If WriteLine "Input File: " & inputFile WriteLine "Output File: " & outputFile Set objPPT = CreateObject( "PowerPoint.Application" ) objPPT.Visible = True objPPT.Presentations.Open inputFile Set objPresentation = objPPT.ActivePresentation Set objPrintOptions = objPresentation.PrintOptions objPrintOptions.Ranges.Add 1,objPresentation.Slides.Count objPrintOptions.RangeType = ppShowAll ' Reference for this at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/ff746080.aspx objPresentation.convert2(output) objPresentation.Close ObjPPT.Quit
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  • I think this would easier with VBA macro for powerpoint rather than a standalone VB script.. Commented Nov 8, 2013 at 0:20
  • Also check this technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/… Commented Nov 8, 2013 at 0:22
  • Thanks; I tried these - but didn't find anything forthcoming after an hour or... Commented Nov 21, 2013 at 17:15

1 Answer 1

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Normally you would do this in PowerPoint with ExportAsFixedFormat(...). Since you chose VBS, you have to use SaveAs(...).

I assume you would also want to be able to batch convert ppt/pptx into pdf rather than specify a full file name one by one...

Option Explicit 'http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/bb251061(v=office.12).aspx Const ppSaveAsPDF = 32 Dim oFSO ' Public reference to FileSystemObject Dim oPPT ' Public reference to PowerPoint App Main Sub Main() Dim sInput If wscript.Arguments.Count <> 1 Then Wscript.Echo "You need to specify input and output files." wscript.Quit End If ' PowerPoint version must be 12 or later (PowerPoint 2007 or later) Set oPPT = CreateObject("PowerPoint.Application") If CDbl(oPPT.Version) < 12 Then Wscript.Echo "PowerPoint version must be 2007 or later!" oPPT.Visible = True oPPT.Quit Set oPPT = Nothing wscript.Quit End If ' Store Input Argument and detect execute mode (single file / Folder batch mode) sInput = wscript.Arguments(0) Set oFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject") If IsPptFile(sInput) Then PPT2PDF sInput ElseIf oFSO.FolderExists(sInput) Then Wscript.Echo "Batch Start: " & Now Wscript.Echo "Root Folder: " & sInput BatchPPT2PDF sInput Else Wscript.Echo """" & sInput & """ is not a PPT file or Folder!" End If ' Close PowerPoint app if no other presentations are opened If oPPT.Presentations.Count = 0 Then oPPT.Quit Set oPPT = Nothing Set oFSO = Nothing End Sub Private Sub BatchPPT2PDF(sFDR) Dim oFDR, oFile Wscript.Echo String(50, Chr(151)) Wscript.Echo "Processing Folder: " & sFDR For Each oFile In oFSO.GetFolder(sFDR).Files If IsPptFile(oFile.Name) Then PPT2PDF(oFile) End If Next For Each oFDR In oFSO.GetFolder(sFDR).SubFolders BatchPPT2PDF oFDR Next End Sub Private Function IsPptFile(sFile) IsPptFile = (InStr(1, Right(sFile, InStrRev(sFile, ".")), "ppt") > 0) End Function Private Sub PPT2PDF(sFile) On Error Resume Next Dim sPDF, oPres sPDF = Left(sFile,InstrRev(sFile,".")) & "pdf" Set oPres = oPPT.Presentations.Open(sFile, True, False, False) ' Read Only, No Title, No Window Err.Clear oPres.SaveAs sPDF, ppSaveAsPDF oPres.Close Set oPres = Nothing If Err.Number = 0 Then Wscript.Echo "OK" & vbTab & sPDF Else Wscript.Echo "X" & vbTab & sPDF & " [ERR " & Err.Number & ": " & Err.Description & "]" Err.Clear End If End Sub
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