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Custom PowerPoint template

Upload a PowerPoint template for exports

Updated at 2019-09-19 16:16:47 UTC

Specify a custom PowerPoint template so that Protobi exports charts into your presentation. 

Export charts into a blank template that has your colors, fonts and branding or export into a polished deck and just update the data in the existing charts.

PowerPoint slide showing Protobi's template capabilities with three example slides: a title slide with professional branding, a chart slide displaying demographic data in bar charts, and a detailed analysis slide. The slides demonstrate custom colors, fonts, and consistent formatting across a presentation template.

Upload a template

The first step is to upload a template to your project.  

  • Go to the project settings "Data" tab 
  • Press + New document
  • Name the new file (i.e. template.pptx)
  • Upload your PowerPoint
  • lastly set "Is template" to "Yes" to bring up customization options
Protobi project settings Data tab showing the file management interface with a '+ New document' button at the top. The interface displays a list of uploaded files including data files, documents, and templates with columns for filename, type, size, and template status settings. PowerPoint template configuration dialog showing detailed customization options. The dialog displays fields for template name, file upload, and an 'Is template' dropdown set to 'Yes'. Below are extensive configuration options including page dimensions, slide layout settings, chart positioning with X and Y coordinates, size specifications, font settings, and master slide layout selection.

Customize layout and sizes

Each PowerPoint template is different, so the next step is to specify detailed settings.  At a minimum you need to specify  the page size, which slide layout to use for new slides, and optionally you can set things like chart size, location and font.

PowerPoint presentations come a wide variety of sizes.  You can check the size of your template in PowerPoint by selecting "Page setup..." from the File menu

PowerPoint's Page Setup dialog box showing slide size configuration options. The dialog displays a dropdown menu listing various presentation size options including On-screen Show (4:3), Letter Paper, Ledger Paper, A3, A4, B4, B5, 35mm Slides, Overhead, Banner, and Custom. Width and height fields are shown below with orientation options for slides and notes.

The most common is now Widescreen (16:9) which is the current default for new presentations.   This is  proportional to the smaller On-screen Show (16:9) and the same height as Letter Paper (8.5x11 in) which was the prior default for new presentations. 

The most common aspect ratios are 16:9 and 4:3. This is the ratio of width to height for the drawing area, excluding the margin. Widescreen is 16:9 and letter size is 4:3.

Diagram showing common PowerPoint slide aspect ratios with visual comparison. Four slide layouts are displayed: Widescreen (16:9) at 10 x 5.625 inches, On-screen Show (16:9) at 10 x 5.625 inches, Letter Paper (8.5 x 11) at 10 x 7.5 inches showing 4:3 ratio, and Standard (4:3) at 10 x 7.5 inches. Each layout is represented as a rectangle with dimensions and aspect ratio labeled.

Basic settings

Select the size of your presentation to populate the options with suggested defaults.  You can specify sizes in inches, centimeters or points using the suffixes "in", "cm" or "pt".

PowerPoint template basic settings dialog showing configuration fields for presentation size and layout. The dialog includes a dropdown for selecting standard sizes (Widescreen, Letter, Standard), input fields for page dimensions (width: 10in, height: 5.625in), chart positioning coordinates (x: 0.5in, y: 1.84in), and chart size specifications (width: 9in, height: 5.21in). A slide layout selector shows 'slideLayout6' as the selected option.

To choose a default slide layout, in your PowerPoint template press the "layout" button in the ribbon and identify the layout you want to use. Layouts are numbered starting from 1, the "Title only" slide below is called "slideLayout6". Make sure to use this naming convention when referencing the layout.

PowerPoint's Layout menu showing nine different slide layout options in a grid. The layouts include Title Slide, Title and Content, Section Header, Two Content, Comparison, Title Only (highlighted as slideLayout6), Blank, Content with Caption, and Picture with Caption. Each layout thumbnail displays its placeholder arrangement and design structure.

Set default template for the project

The next step is to set the default template for the project. Under the "Overview" tab of the project's Admin page, enter the template name:

Protobi project settings Overview tab showing the PowerPoint template configuration field. The interface displays various project settings including Name, Description, Start date, End date, Data tabs, and a PowerPoint template field where 'template.pptx' can be entered. Additional settings shown include Data file name, Duplicate options, and Archive controls.

Anytime data from the project is exported to PowerPoint, it will now be on a template that you created and customized. 

Update a report with new data

You can export Protobi charts as new charts on blank slides, but you can also connect Protobi charts to an existing report and just update the data in the slides. 

Side-by-side comparison showing PowerPoint template update workflow. Left side shows a PowerPoint slide with a bar chart displaying demographic data. Right side shows the same chart in Protobi's interface with updated data. An arrow between them indicates the data update process, demonstrating how existing PowerPoint charts can be refreshed with new data while maintaining formatting.

PowerPoint export options

You can choose PowerPoint export options from the Chart type dialog.

Chart type dialog showing PowerPoint export options. The dialog displays a dropdown menu for export format selection with options including 'charts', 'shapes', 'image', and checkboxes for 'keep table' and 'update only' options. Additional chart type selections are visible including bar charts, stacked bars, and table layouts with icons representing each type.

charts: Export to PowerPoint as native, editable charts. For some chart types, like Word Clouds, there isn't a native chart option in PowerPoint, so even if you select charts the export will be shapes.

shapes: Export as editable shapes and text.

image: Export as static image.

keep table: For Print layout charts, export legend, y-axis categories, and statistics columns as a table behind the chart.

update only: Only update the chart data and keep other chart formatting as it is in the template. This is for projects with custom PowerPoint templates.

Advanced support

Contact us at support@protobi.com to discuss data updates to your existing reports.