Shape.Export method (PowerPoint)

Article
01/16/2024

Exports a shape, using the specified graphics filter, and saves the exported file under the specified file name.

Syntax

expression.Export(Parameters)

expression A variable that represents a Shape object.

Parameters

Name	Required/Optional	Data type	Description
PathName	Required	String	The name of the file to be exported and saved to disk. You can include a full path; if you don't, Microsoft PowerPoint creates a file in the current folder. Specifies how far the shadow offset is to be moved horizontally, in points. A positive value moves the shadow to the right; a negative value moves it to the left.
Filter	Required	PpShapeFormat	The graphics filter to use in the creation of the exported image file.
ScaleWidth	Optional	Long	The width of the image in points. Default is the slide width.
ScaleHeight	Optional	Long	The height of the image in points. Default is the slide height.
ExportMode	Optional	ppExportMode	The scaling method use in the creation of the exported image file. If not specified, the dimensions will be scaled relative to the size of the slide.

Enumerations

PpShapeFormat enumeration (PowerPoint)

Name	Value	Description
ppShapeFormatBMP	3	Bitmap
ppShapeFormatEMF	5	Enhanced Metafile
ppShapeFormatGIF	0	Static GIF
ppShapeFormatJPG	1	Compressed JPG
ppShapeFormatPNG	2	Lossless PNG
ppShapeFormatSVG	6	Scalable Vector Graphic
ppShapeFormatWMF	4	Windows Metafile

ExportMode enumeration (PowerPoint)

Name	Value	Description
ppClipRelativeToSlide	2	Reserved for future use
ppRelativeToSlide	1	Scales the image relative to the dimensions of the slide
ppScaleToFit	3	Reserved for future use
ppScaleXY	4	Reserved for future use

Remarks

PowerPoint uses the specified graphics filter to save each individual shape. The names of the shapes exported and saved to disk are determined the PathName argument which should include the corresponding file extension for the chosen graphics filter.

The ScaleWidth and ScaleHeight parameters are used to scale the exported image size relative to the dimensions of the slide. For example, if a plain 1" square shape is created on a slide, it will measure as 72x72 points in the Object Model. When exported without using any scale factor, the default scale of 1:1 is applied, and PowerPoint will use 96DPI to create a 96x96 pixel image. If a scale factor of 2x is used as shown in example 2 below, the exported image will be 192x192 pixels.

If the slide and/or shape is not fully downloaded, this method fails and an error occurs. For more information about the Partial Documents, see Work with Partial Documents.

When exporting from PowerPoint on macOS, the files must be created in either the Office sandbox folder or the PowerPoint sandbox folder:

/Users/[username]/Library/Group Containers/UBF8T346G9.Office /Users/[username]/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Powerpoint/Data

If you attempt to use a path outside of these sandbox locations, and automation error is raised.

Availability

The SVG filter is available on Windows version 2302 and later.

The Export method is available on macOS on version 16.82 and later.

Example

The following example exports all SVG shapes in the active presentation as SVG files to the user’s Pictures folder. The default PpRelativeToSlide value is used for the ExportMode parameter which means that the exported image will be


For Each oSld In ActivePresentation.Slides
    For Each oShp In oSld.Shapes
        If oShp.Type = msoGraphic Then
            FileName = oShp.Name & ".svg"
            PathToFolder = Environ("USERPROFILE") & "\Pictures\"
            oShp.Export PathToFolder & FileName, ppShapeFormatSVG
        End If
    Next
Next

The following example uses the scale feature to export the selected object at a size relative to the slide. In this case, the slide is a standard 16:9 size which is 960x540 points. The exported image is created at twice the size of its size on the slide.


PathToFile = Environ("USERPROFILE") & "\Pictures\export.png"

With ActiveWindow.Selection.ShapeRange(1)
        .Export PathToFile, ppShapeFormatPNG, 1920, 1080, ppRelativeToSlide
End With