text tool
Extract text from a PPTX file
Choose a PowerPoint .pptx and get every word on every slide back as plain text, in slide order, with the speaker notes under each slide if you want them. The file is unpacked inside this page, so a confidential deck is never uploaded.
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- Runs on your device, nothing is uploaded
- Free, no sign in
- No watermark, no file limit
How it works
- 1
Choose the .pptx
Any deck saved by PowerPoint, Google Slides, Keynote or LibreOffice as .pptx works.
- 2
Pick notes and headings
Keep speaker notes and the "Slide 1" headings on or switch them off; the text box updates straight away.
- 3
Read the summary
The line above the box counts slides and words and says how many slides have no text of their own, which usually means a picture slide.
- 4
Copy or save
Copy the text into a document or a prompt, or download it as a .txt file named after the deck.
What a .pptx file is inside
A .pptx is a zip archive of XML files in the Office Open XML format, standardised as ECMA-376. Each slide is its own XML part, the order of the slides is set in a presentation part, and the notes for a slide sit in a separate notes part linked to it. The words themselves are runs of text inside paragraphs. This tool unzips the file with the browser's own decompression, follows the slide list in order, and joins each paragraph's runs into a line, so the result reads the way the deck does without any PowerPoint installed.
Getting the words out of an old deck
The most common reason to extract text is to reuse it: an old training deck becoming a handbook, a pitch becoming a one page summary, last year's conference talk becoming a blog post. Plain text is the right starting point because it carries no leftover formatting into the new tool. Switch the slide headings off when you want running prose, and on when you need to keep track of which slide each point came from, for example when a reviewer will comment by slide number.
Speaker notes are often the better text
Slides are usually short phrases. The full argument tends to live in the speaker notes, where the presenter wrote what they meant to say. Including the notes gives you that fuller text under each slide, marked with a Notes line so it stays separate from the on screen words. If you only want the notes, the speaker notes extractor gives them on their own with each slide's title as a heading.
Checking a deck before you share it
Extracting the text is also a quick review. Reading every slide as one block shows repeated phrases, slides that say nothing, and placeholder text such as Click to add title that was never replaced. The summary's count of slides with no text points to picture slides, which is worth knowing if the deck has to be accessible, because a screen reader announces only what is written. A word count across slides and notes also tells you roughly how long the talk runs, which the speaking time calculator turns into minutes.
Rebuilding the deck from the text
The presentation generator takes a written brief of up to 10,000 characters and builds a new deck from it, so pasted text from an old presentation is a quick way to get a fresh design on the same content. Trim the extract to the points you still want, add a sentence about the audience, and paste it in. The generator also accepts PDF and text attachments on Starter plans and up, but not .pptx files, which is why extracting the text first is the useful step.
Limits
- Only .pptx. The old .ppt binary format has to be saved as .pptx in PowerPoint, Keynote or LibreOffice first.
- Text inside charts and SmartArt graphics lives in separate parts of the file and is not included. Text in pictures is never readable without text recognition.
- Text appears in the order the shapes sit in the slide's file, which is usually the order they were added, not always top to bottom.
- A password protected file is encrypted and cannot be opened here.
What it does not do
- It does not keep formatting such as bold, colour or layout.
- It does not convert the deck to another format.
- It does not upload the presentation.
Questions people ask
Can I extract text from a PowerPoint without having PowerPoint?
Yes. A .pptx is a zip of XML files, so any program that can unzip and read XML can get the text out. This page does that in the browser, which means it works on a computer or tablet with no Office installed, and the file never leaves the device.
Why is some text from my slides missing?
Text inside charts, SmartArt and embedded objects is stored in separate parts of the file, and text that is part of a picture is just pixels. The tool reads the text boxes, placeholders, tables and grouped shapes on each slide. For text inside an image, a text recognition tool is needed.
Does it work with Google Slides?
Download the Google Slides deck as Microsoft PowerPoint (.pptx) from the File menu, then choose that file here. Google writes standard .pptx files, so the slides, tables and notes come through the same way as a deck saved by PowerPoint.
How do I extract text from many .pptx files at once?
This tool handles one deck at a time, which keeps every file on your device and the result easy to check. For a large batch, a short script using a library such as python-pptx can loop over a folder, and it follows the same slide and notes structure described here.
Will the text keep bullet points and numbering?
Each paragraph becomes one line, so a bulleted list comes out as one line per bullet, but the bullet symbols and automatic numbers are not part of the text and are left out. Add list markers back in the destination, where the formatting tools of that app apply anyway.
Rebuild the deck from its text
Take what you made here into presentations.
Create a presentation with OneCraftMore tools like this
- Extract speaker notes from a PowerPointExtract speaker notes from a PowerPoint .pptx in your browser: each slide's notes under its title, as plain text or Markdown, ready to print, read or rehearse.
- Find the fonts used in a PowerPointSee the fonts used in a PowerPoint file: theme heading and body fonts, fonts set on each slide, masters and layouts, and which ones are embedded in the .pptx.
- Extract images from a PowerPoint fileExtract images from a PowerPoint .pptx in your browser: every picture, video and audio file packed in the deck, with the slides that use each, as a zip.
- PDF text extractorThe page on one side, its text on the other, editable. Fix the reading order by hand, search it, then copy or download as txt, Markdown or JSON. Not uploaded.
- Word counterCount words, characters, sentences and paragraphs as you type, and see which sentences are hard work. Runs in your browser, nothing is uploaded or stored.
- Speaking time calculatorPaste a script and see it laid out on a clock, section by section, against the slot you have. Six measured speaking rates, and a rehearsal timer.
Background reading: the question page on this.
Written and checked by the OneCraft team. Last checked .