▶ PPPTools Dokumentation
📚 Bibliothek
DE EN
Contents

Save Snippet

Created: 2026-05-24 10:00 · Updated: 2026-07-18

A snippet is a single PowerPoint shape or a group of shapes — for example, an icon, a diagram, or a text block.

Snippet Types

PPPTools distinguishes three snippet types. The type is determined automatically by what you save:

Type Content Insertion
Fragment Saved shapes / group Shapes are inserted directly
Picture Embedded image Image is inserted
Code Roslyn script (from the Advanced Snippet Editor) Script is executed

Saving from a slide (see below) creates a Fragment or a Picture. Code snippets are created in the Advanced Snippet Editor. The type is shown in the gallery and on the detail page and is handled correctly on insertion — including from the online library.

Prerequisites

  • A PowerPoint presentation is open
  • At least one shape is selected on the active slide

Saving

  1. Select the shape(s) on the slide
  2. Click PPPTools → Save Snippet in the Ribbon
  3. Enter a Name in the dialog
  4. Optional: add category, description, and other metadata directly
  5. Click Save

The snippet is saved in your private library and appears immediately in the gallery.

Tip

Groups and multiple simultaneously selected shapes can also be saved as a single snippet. PPPTools groups the objects automatically.

Technical Name & Grouping

The save dialog (and later the Manage tab) offers two additional fields that control the insertion behavior:

Technical Name

The technical name is optional. When set, the inserted object is given exactly this name (Shape.Name) on insertion — for example CustomerLogo.

Why? This lets you later find and replace the same object across multiple slides (e.g. swap out all "CustomerLogo" shapes).

Which object is renamed depends on the snippet type:

Type Renamed object
Code the shape for a single object; the group for multiple objects (only when Grouping = Yes)
Fragment only when there is exactly one object
Picture the shape, or the group (for multiple pictures)

If the field is empty, nothing is renamed.

Grouping

The Grouping toggle (Yes/No) applies to Code snippets: if the script creates several objects, they are automatically combined into a group after insertion when set to Yes. The Technical Name — if set — is then applied to the group.

For new snippets, Grouping = Yes is the default.

Note

Picture snippets with multiple images are always grouped anyway. Fragments keep the structure stored in the snippet.

Updating Metadata

After saving, all metadata can be edited in the Manage tab. Select the snippet in the list and adjust the fields.

Edit Code & Rebuild Preview

For Code snippets, two additional buttons appear below the preview image in the Manage tab:

Button What happens
Edit code Opens the snippet's code.cs in the Advanced Snippet Editor — with a reduced toolbar, where Save overwrites exactly this snippet
Rebuild preview Runs the script (with parameter dialog) and creates a new preview image from the resulting objects

For Fragment and Picture snippets both buttons stay disabled — there is no script.

Rebuild preview runs in four steps:

  1. If the snippet has @param definitions, the parameter dialog appears first (button Preview image)
  2. The script runs on the active slide
  3. The newly created objects are exported as preview.png
  4. The objects are removed from the slide again

If the script creates no new object, the existing preview image stays untouched and you get a notice.

License

Edit code opens the Advanced Snippet Editor and therefore requires a Pro license (Trial included). Rebuild preview is available from Free.

Preview Image

PPPTools automatically creates a preview image of the saved shape. The image is displayed in the gallery card. For code snippets it can be rebuilt at any time (see above).

Next Steps