Design Conversion (DesignConversion)
Purpose and use
Design conversion automatically transfers slides from external PowerPoint presentations into your own corporate design. This document function is available in PowerPoint content templates and makes the template a possible conversion target: when a user starts the design conversion in PowerPoint, exactly those templates are offered for selection on which this document function is activated.
Which slide layouts of the source presentation are mapped to which of your own layouts is defined in the associated master template — via DesignConversionMappings and IsDesignConversionFallback in the Slide Layout document function. The conversion flow is also described there.
Differing slide size
If the slide size of the target template differs from the source presentation, all elements outside of placeholders — charts, tables, images, text boxes, shapes — are scaled to the target size and then centred on the slide.
The following applies:
- A single uniform scale factor is used (the smaller of the two ratios), so that the aspect ratio of the elements is preserved and nothing extends beyond the slide edge.
- Placeholders are not scaled. Their position and size come from the layout of the target template.
- Groups are scaled as a unit; the elements they contain follow the group automatically.
- Absolute font sizes and spacing are scaled along, so text keeps the same proportion to its shape. Spacing defined as a percentage stays unchanged, since it already refers to the font size.
- If the slide size is identical, no scaling takes place.
Basic structure
<DesignConversionConfiguration>
</DesignConversionConfiguration>
Even the empty configuration activates the template as a conversion target.
Attributes
| Attribute name | Description |
|---|---|
ShowForms (optional) | Controls whether the template's Forms dialogue is shown during the conversion so that prefilled values can be reviewed and completed. Default value: false — the dialogues are skipped. |
Elements
FormsMapping
Maps metadata of the source presentation to the Forms fields of the template. The mapped values are available as prefilled Forms fields during generation — visible to the user if ShowForms="true" is set.
<DesignConversionConfiguration ShowForms="true">
<FormsMapping>
<Map Source="Title" Target="Subject" />
<Map Source="Date" Target="Date" />
<Map Source="Footer" Target="Footer" />
</FormsMapping>
</DesignConversionConfiguration>
Attributes for Map
| Attribute name | Description |
|---|---|
Source | Metadata from the source presentation. Possible values: Title, Date, Footer. |
Target (mandatory) | Id of the Forms field the value is written to (without the Forms. prefix). |
SourceValue (optional) | Fixed value assigned instead of a Source metadata item. |
SourceExpression (optional) | JavaScript expression used to compute the value. |
When (optional) | Condition; the mapping is only executed if it is met. |
If elements (attribute Condition) can be used within FormsMapping to tie several Map elements to a shared condition.