Share PowerPoint File as PDF

Share PowerPoint File as PDF

Handling Windows and desktop applications is an essential part of most automation scenarios. UI automation nodes and recording enable you to launch applications like Microsoft PowerPoint, navigate through their environment, and automate repetitive tasks on them.

What Share PowerPoint File as PDF can do

• Download Fixtures subflow, then build msg.fixtures_dir and msg.deck_pptx (a sample deck under $Home$/templates/desktop-automation/share-powerpoint-file-as-pdf/fixtures).
• Three Input Dialogs collect the .pptx path (msg.selected_powerpoint), recipient email (msg.recipient_email) and sender email (msg.sender_email).
• Derive Paths (Core.Programming.Function, outputs: 2) — validates a .pptx extension; splits the path into msg.directory, msg.file_name_no_ext, and msg.pdf_path; invalid input short-circuits to Core.Flow.Stop.
• Build and run a PowerShell SaveAs script via Core.Process.StartProcess — opens the deck with PowerPoint COM, calls SaveAs(pdf, 32, $false) (ppSaveAsPDF), and captures stdout as msg.export_output.
• Send Email Via Outlook subflow dispatches the PDF, then a Message Box confirms PowerPoint exported and email dispatched..

Behind the scenes

• Retries around transient failures are wired with Core.Trigger.Catch + a counter in a Function node and a Core.Programming.Sleep between attempts, short-circuiting to Core.Flow.Stop after N retries.
• The PowerShell COM path (PowerPoint.Application → SaveAs(…, 32, $false)) avoids driving the Save-As dialog at all, so there is no filename field to populate — the .pdf extension lives in msg.pdf_path and is passed in directly.