123PPT Presenters Forum - How can I make text fit automatically on slides?

Hi Katie,

welcome to The Presenters Forum.

The problem of adding large amount of text to PowerPoint has always been an issue for the serious presenter. Whilst many will argue that PowerPoint is not a medium to use large of amount of text in, there are certainly cases and times when one needs to add more text than a single slide will allow.

People often refer to adding a lot of text to PowerPoint that simply disappers off the slide as "overflow" text. When the text reaches the end of the text holder it seems to "overflow" down and out of the holder into an invisible space.

In order to add as much text as you wish Katie and have PowerPoint calculate the number of slides required adding all your text you will need to use what's known as a Macro.

This PowerPoint Macro evaluates the entire presentation, and is able to calculate the number of lines of text per slide, moving the text which overflows to the next slide, and so on. Inserting slides as necessary to house your text.

Firstly Katie, I suggest saving a copy of your presentation. So you keep your original file as a back up.

Make sure you have installed Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for the Microsoft Office System off your Office CD.

Then cut and paste the following code into the VBE (Microsoft Visual Studio Tools), and run this macro on the copy of your presentation.

Sub WrapOver()

Dim SldCnt As Long
Dim SldNum As Long
Dim WrapCnt As Long
Dim OldCnt As Long

SldCnt = ActivePresentation.Slides.Count
OldCnt = SldCnt

WrapCnt = InputBox("'Wrap' text in placeholder " & _
"if they exceed how many lines?", "Wrap after" & _
"input", "6")

If WrapCnt > 15 Or WrapCnt < 2 Then
MsgBox "Please enter a number between 2 and 15" & _
", when you re-run this macro", vbCritical + _
vbOKOnly, "Input range error"
Exit Sub
End If

SldNum = 0
With ActivePresentation

NextSlide:
SldNum = SldNum + 1
If SldNum > SldCnt Then
GoTo EndRoutine
End If

' Ignore slides with no second placeholder shape
On Error Resume Next
If .Slides(SldNum).Shapes.Placeholders(2) _
.TextFrame.TextRange.Lines _
.Count <= WrapCnt Then
GoTo NextSlide
End If
On Error GoTo ErrorHandler

.Slides(SldNum).Duplicate
SldCnt = SldCnt + 1
With .Slides(SldNum).Shapes.Placeholders(2).TextFrame.TextRange
.Lines(WrapCnt + 1, .Lines.Count).Delete
End With
.Slides(SldNum + 1).Shapes.Placeholders(2) _
.TextFrame.TextRange.Lines(1, WrapCnt).Delete
GoTo NextSlide

EndRoutine:
End With
MsgBox "Task complete. " & SldCnt - OldCnt & _
" slides were added.", vbOKOnly, WrapCnt & _
" line max. macro"

NormalExit:
Exit Sub
ErrorHandler:
Resume NormalExit

End Sub

You'll now find that all your text formats to the number of lines you defined (less than 15) per slide and PowerPoint has added all the additional slides necessary to hold all your text content.

Charles Henry, Creative Director 123PPT.com.

I am here to help Katie, so if you have any problems at all let me know.

Using Macros in Microsoft Office is not usually something the average user is forced to encounter or use, so I understand that it may seem a little daunting.

However Microsoft have made it extremely simple with the Visual Studio Tools, so you can simply cut and paste the code in my earlier post into the form field to generate your macro to fit long text documents into PowerPoint.

Charles Henry, Creative Director 123PPT.com.

Author	Message Topic Search Topic Options Post Reply Create New Topic Printable Version
Katie Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 25 Oct 2005 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2	Quote Reply Topic: How can I make text fit automatically on slides? Posted: 25 Oct 2005 at 05:50
	Hi I have a large Word document that I would like to simply "cut & paste" into PowerPoint, but it seems impossible. It seems everytime I add some text I have to add just a few lines. Then Insert a new slide into my presentation. Then insert a few lines. etc. etc. The process is very tedious and takes hours. Is there not a way to simply copy all my text from a document and have PowerPoint insert the correct number of slides that it needs to display the text within my PowerPoint template design? Katie B

Charles Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 18 Sep 2005 Online Status: Offline Posts: 28	Quote Reply Posted: 25 Oct 2005 at 10:04
	Hi Katie, welcome to The Presenters Forum. The problem of adding large amount of text to PowerPoint has always been an issue for the serious presenter. Whilst many will argue that PowerPoint is not a medium to use large of amount of text in, there are certainly cases and times when one needs to add more text than a single slide will allow. People often refer to adding a lot of text to PowerPoint that simply disappers off the slide as "overflow" text. When the text reaches the end of the text holder it seems to "overflow" down and out of the holder into an invisible space. In order to add as much text as you wish Katie and have PowerPoint calculate the number of slides required adding all your text you will need to use what's known as a Macro. This PowerPoint Macro evaluates the entire presentation, and is able to calculate the number of lines of text per slide, moving the text which overflows to the next slide, and so on. Inserting slides as necessary to house your text. Firstly Katie, I suggest saving a copy of your presentation. So you keep your original file as a back up. Make sure you have installed Microsoft Visual Studio Tools for the Microsoft Office System off your Office CD. Then cut and paste the following code into the VBE (Microsoft Visual Studio Tools), and run this macro on the copy of your presentation. Sub WrapOver() Dim SldCnt As Long Dim SldNum As Long Dim WrapCnt As Long Dim OldCnt As Long SldCnt = ActivePresentation.Slides.Count OldCnt = SldCnt WrapCnt = InputBox("'Wrap' text in placeholder " & _ "if they exceed how many lines?", "Wrap after" & _ "input", "6") If WrapCnt > 15 Or WrapCnt < 2 Then MsgBox "Please enter a number between 2 and 15" & _ ", when you re-run this macro", vbCritical + _ vbOKOnly, "Input range error" Exit Sub End If SldNum = 0 With ActivePresentation NextSlide: SldNum = SldNum + 1 If SldNum > SldCnt Then GoTo EndRoutine End If ' Ignore slides with no second placeholder shape On Error Resume Next If .Slides(SldNum).Shapes.Placeholders(2) _ .TextFrame.TextRange.Lines _ .Count <= WrapCnt Then GoTo NextSlide End If On Error GoTo ErrorHandler .Slides(SldNum).Duplicate SldCnt = SldCnt + 1 With .Slides(SldNum).Shapes.Placeholders(2).TextFrame.TextRange .Lines(WrapCnt + 1, .Lines.Count).Delete End With .Slides(SldNum + 1).Shapes.Placeholders(2) _ .TextFrame.TextRange.Lines(1, WrapCnt).Delete GoTo NextSlide EndRoutine: End With MsgBox "Task complete. " & SldCnt - OldCnt & _ " slides were added.", vbOKOnly, WrapCnt & _ " line max. macro" NormalExit: Exit Sub ErrorHandler: Resume NormalExit End Sub You'll now find that all your text formats to the number of lines you defined (less than 15) per slide and PowerPoint has added all the additional slides necessary to hold all your text content.
	Charles Henry, Creative Director 123PPT.com.

Katie Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 25 Oct 2005 Online Status: Offline Posts: 2	Quote Reply Posted: 25 Oct 2005 at 11:18
	Thank you Charles, this looks a bit tricky, but I will install the tools and let you know how I get on. Katie

Charles Members Profile Send Private Message Find Members Posts Visit Members Homepage Add to Buddy List Newbie Joined: 18 Sep 2005 Online Status: Offline Posts: 28	Quote Reply Posted: 25 Oct 2005 at 11:27
	I am here to help Katie, so if you have any problems at all let me know. Using Macros in Microsoft Office is not usually something the average user is forced to encounter or use, so I understand that it may seem a little daunting. However Microsoft have made it extremely simple with the Visual Studio Tools, so you can simply cut and paste the code in my earlier post into the form field to generate your macro to fit long text documents into PowerPoint.
	Charles Henry, Creative Director 123PPT.com.