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PowerPoint JavaScript object model in Office Add-ins

This article describes concepts that are fundamental to using the PowerPoint JavaScript API to build add-ins.

Office.js APIs for PowerPoint

A PowerPoint add-in interacts with objects in PowerPoint by using the Office JavaScript API. This includes two JavaScript object models:

  • PowerPoint JavaScript API: The PowerPoint JavaScript API provides strongly-typed objects that work with the presentation, slides, tables, shapes, formatting, and more. To learn about the asynchronous nature of the PowerPoint APIs and how they work with the presentation, see Using the application-specific API model.

  • Common APIs: The Common API give access to features such as UI, dialogs, and client settings that are common across multiple Office applications. To learn more about using the Common API, see Common JavaScript API object model.

While you'll likely use the PowerPoint JavaScript API to develop the majority of functionality in add-ins that target PowerPoint, you'll also use objects in the Common API. For example:

  • Office.Context: The Office.Context object represents the runtime environment of the add-in and provides access to key objects of the API. It consists of presentation configuration details such as contentLanguage and officeTheme and also provides information about the add-in's runtime environment such as host and platform. Additionally, it provides the requirements.isSetSupported() method, which you can use to check whether a specified requirement set is supported by the PowerPoint application where the add-in is running.
  • Office.Document: The Office.Document object provides the getFileAsync() method, which you can use to download the PowerPoint file where the add-in is running. It also provides the getActiveViewAsync() method, which you can use to check whether the presentation is in a "read" or "edit" view. "edit" corresponds to any of the views in which you can edit slides: Normal, Slide Sorter, or Outline View. "read" corresponds to either Slide Show or Reading View.

PowerPoint-specific object model

To understand the PowerPoint APIs, you must understand how key components of a presentation are related to one another.

  • The presentation contains slides and presentation-level entities such as settings and custom XML parts.
  • A slide contains content like shapes, text, and tables.
  • A layout determines how a slide's content is organized and displayed.

For the full set of objects supported by the PowerPoint JavaScript API, see PowerPoint JavaScript API.

See also