`extract_pptx`

Extract slides, speaker notes, and comments from a PowerPoint (.pptx) deck.

Parameters

pathstringone of path or source_key: File path to the .pptx file; supports ${ctx.key} interpolation.
source_keystringone of path or source_key: Context key whose value is the file path (must be a string).
formatstringdefault "text": Output format: "text" (flattened slide text), "markdown" (one section per slide), or "json" (structured IR).
output_keystringdefault "content": Context key where the extracted output is stored. For text/markdown the value is a string; for json it is an object.
metadata_keystring: If set, deck metadata (slide count + Dublin Core fields) is stored under this context key.
comments_keystring: If set, slide comments (from ppt/comments/comment*.xml plus author lookup in ppt/commentAuthors.xml) are stored under this context key as a flat array. Comments are also attached per-slide in the JSON output.
include_image_bytesbooleandefault false: When format = "json", include embedded image bytes as base64 (media_b64) plus mime_type when the image relationship can be resolved.

Providing both path and source_key is an error. format accepts "text", "markdown", or "json".

Context Output

<output_key> (default content) — slides as text / Markdown / JSON IR.
<metadata_key> (when set) — object with slide_count and (when present) title, author, subject, description, keywords, last_modified_by, created, modified, revision, category.
<comments_key> (when set) — flat array of PptxComment (see below).

JSON output shape

{
  "slides": [
    {
      "slide_index": 1,
      "title": "STIMULUS 1A",
      "elements": [
        {
          "type": "text_block",
          "placeholder": null,
          "paragraphs": [
            { "text": "20 GA Patients" },
            { "text": "Group A", "list_level": 0 },
            { "text": "Group B", "list_level": 0 }
          ]
        }
      ],
      "speaker_notes": "Moderator: probe on rationale per group.",
      "comments": [
        {
          "slide_index": 1,
          "idx": "1",
          "author_id": "0",
          "author": "Reviewer A",
          "initials": "RA",
          "date": "2026-04-02T14:20:00",
          "text": "Make sure to clarify 'group' wording."
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "slide_index": 2,
      "title": "Patient Profile A",
      "elements": [
        {
          "type": "table",
          "rows": [
            ["Field", "Value"],
            ["Age", "75"],
            ["Diagnosis", "Bilateral GA, juxtafoveal"]
          ]
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

Element types

text_block — a non-title shape's text. placeholder carries the OOXML placeholder type (subTitle, body, etc.) when present. paragraphs[] carry text and optional list_level (0-based indent for bulleted items).
table — rendered as rows: [[string]].
image — picture shape metadata. alt_text, embed_id, and embedded_path are included when available. With include_image_bytes = true, the JSON output also includes media_b64 and mime_type for resolved embedded images.

The slide's title is taken from the placeholder with type="title" or type="ctrTitle". If no title placeholder exists, the title field is omitted.

Comments

The node currently parses legacy comments (ppt/comments/comment*.xml, indexed by slide number) and the matching ppt/commentAuthors.xml. PowerPoint's newer "modern comments" format (ppt/modernComments/) is not yet supported.

slide_index on each comment is derived from the comment file's numeric suffix (comment3.xml → slide 3).

Examples

Extract a stimulus deck as JSON

flow:step("extract_deck", nodes.extract_pptx({
    path = "${ctx.deck_path}",
    format = "json",
    include_image_bytes = true,
    output_key = "deck",
    comments_key = "deck_comments",
    metadata_key = "deck_meta"
}))

flow:step("show", nodes.log({
    message = "Deck '${ctx.deck_meta.title}' has ${ctx.deck_meta.slide_count} slides"
})):depends_on("extract_deck")

Markdown for previewing

flow:step("preview", nodes.extract_pptx({
    path = "/data/stimulus.pptx",
    format = "markdown",
    output_key = "md"
}))

Produces one ## Slide N section per slide with the title as an ### header, body paragraphs (bullets if list-leveled), tables as Markdown pipe tables, and speaker notes appended.