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PowerPoint extraction

docray extracts .pptx presentations natively in pure Rust. Each slide is a page. Slide dimensions are read from the presentation in EMUs, converted at 12,700 EMUs per point, and reported in the same top-left, y-down point space as PDF output.

PPTX is available at element granularity and in lean output:

docray extract deck.pptx --granularity element
docray extract deck.pptx --format lean

An omitted granularity defaults to element for PPTX, so docray extract deck.pptx (or a plain upload) just works. Requesting finer detail — char or word — asks for a hierarchy PPTX cannot provide and returns granularity_unavailable, with guidance to retry using granularity=element.

Extracted content

  • Text shapes are emitted as one text element, with paragraphs separated by newlines and explicit DrawingML hard breaks preserved at their document position. The dominant summary remains on the text element, while runs preserves each ordinary run and field’s resolved font, size, emphasis, theme color, normal-autofit scaling, and external hyperlink target. A hard break contributes \n to aggregate content but is not a styled TextRun.
  • Tables are emitted as first-class table elements with grid dimensions and row-major anchor cells. Grid and row dimensions determine cell boxes; merged-cell continuations are omitted and the anchor carries the row/column span and merged box. Cell text also preserves per-run styles.
  • Charts are emitted as first-class chart elements at the graphic-frame bbox, with chart type, optional title, and ordered series containing optional names and category/value points. Category/value points are paired by source index, and values reuse the chart series’ number format (for example, 0.41 with 0% becomes 41%). Combo charts use the first chart node for chart_type.
  • SmartArt text is read from the related diagram-data part in document order and emitted as one text element at the graphic-frame bbox.
  • Pictures are emitted as image elements. Their content hash covers the exact referenced media-part bytes, including pictures carried by graphic frames.
  • Geometry-only shapes and connectors are emitted as path elements with the fill, stroke, and stroke width represented by the existing JSON model.
  • External click hyperlinks continue to be emitted as link annotations. A text run also carries its external target in href; targets are returned literally and are never fetched.
  • Placeholder roles are emitted in the non-visible hidden channel using the placeholder type verbatim; the ECMA default is body when type is absent.
  • Speaker notes are emitted as page-targeted notes, using only the notes slide’s body placeholder. Slide-image and slide-number placeholders are ignored.
  • Shape and picture alternative text is emitted as element-targeted alt, preferring descr and falling back to title.
  • Slides with show="0" remain ordinary extracted pages and carry a page-targeted hidden-slide item with content true.
  • Visible non-placeholder shapes inherited from the slide master and layout are extracted through the same shape, picture, connector, group, table, and graphic-frame paths as slide-owned content. Their element-targeted source-layer hidden item contains master or layout.
  • Template placeholder shapes are not emitted, so authoring prompts such as “Click to edit …” do not appear as page content. They still participate in placeholder geometry and style inheritance for slide-owned placeholders.
  • A slide with showMasterSp="0" suppresses both layout and master shapes. A layout with showMasterSp="0" suppresses master shapes while retaining its own shapes. An absent attribute defaults to showing inherited shapes.
  • Placeholder geometry is inherited from the slide layout and master. Group, shape, picture, and frame rotation/flip transforms are flattened into slide coordinates.

Elements follow PowerPoint z-order: master shapes, layout shapes, then the slide’s own p:spTree, with document order preserved inside each layer. docray does not infer a semantic reading order. Hidden items are explicitly marked as non-visible context in JSON and lean so consumers do not mistake notes or accessibility metadata for slide-visible text.

Deliberate limits

PPTX extraction does not provide character or word geometry, render slides, or reconstruct chart and SmartArt visual geometry: OOXML stores those layouts for the application to render. Charts report their structure at the containing frame bbox; SmartArt remains a text element at that bbox. OLE and unknown graphic frames with no extractable text produce a warning. Legacy .ppt, encrypted Office documents, and other ZIP-based Office formats are rejected.

Container safety

PPTX files are OPC ZIP containers. Before parsing XML, docray enforces caps on entry count, per-entry and total inflated size, and compression ratio. Unsafe entry names are rejected, parts are read only by exact name, and nothing is extracted to disk. DTD declarations and external entities are never resolved; external relationship targets are treated as literal metadata only. The HTTP server retains its normal worker-process timeout, memory limit, and output cap.