Extract metadata from Microsoft Office PowerPoint presentations Leave feedback

PowerPoint metadata is like a “digital label” attached to your presentation files. It contains information about the file such as:

• Who created it
• When it was made
• The title and subject
• How long someone spent editing it
• Which version of PowerPoint was used

Think of it like the “Properties” you see when you right-click on a file - but now you can extract this information programmatically using code.

Here are some common reasons developers extract metadata from PowerPoint files:

• File Organization: Automatically sort presentations by author, date, or company
• Document Tracking: Find out who last modified a presentation and when
• Content Management: Build searchable libraries of presentations
• Compliance: Track document history for auditing purposes

When you extract metadata from a PowerPoint presentation using GroupDocs.Parser, you can get these details:

And several other technical details…

It’s really simple! Just follow these 3 steps:

First, create a Parser object and point it to your PowerPoint file:

using(Parser parser = new Parser("your-presentation.pptx"))
{
    // Your code goes here
}

Ask the parser to extract all the metadata:

IEnumerable<MetadataItem> metadata = parser.GetMetadata();

Loop through the results and print out what you found:

foreach(MetadataItem item in metadata)
{
    Console.WriteLine($"{item.Name}: {item.Value}");
}

Here’s the full working example:

// Create an instance of Parser class
using(Parser parser = new Parser(filePath))
{
    // Extract metadata from the presentation
    IEnumerable<MetadataItem> metadata = parser.GetMetadata();
  
    // Iterate over metadata items
    foreach(MetadataItem item in metadata)
    {
        // Print the item name and value
        Console.WriteLine(string.Format("{0}: {1}", item.Name, item.Value));
    }
}

This works with all common PowerPoint formats:

• .ppt - Older PowerPoint files
• .pptx - Newer PowerPoint files
• .pps - PowerPoint slideshow files
• .ppsx - Newer slideshow files

Warning

Remember: If a PowerPoint file doesn’t have metadata or the file type isn’t supported, you might get no results. This is normal - not all files have metadata information.

Let’s say you have a folder full of PowerPoint presentations and you want to find out who created each one:

string[] presentations = Directory.GetFiles(@"C:\MyPresentations", "*.pptx");

foreach (string presentation in presentations)
{
    using (Parser parser = new Parser(presentation))
    {
        var metadata = parser.GetMetadata();
        var author = metadata.FirstOrDefault(m => m.Name == "author");
        
        Console.WriteLine($"File: {Path.GetFileName(presentation)}");
        Console.WriteLine($"Author: {author?.Value ?? "Unknown"}");
        Console.WriteLine("---");
    }
}

This will show you the author of each PowerPoint file in your folder!

For Businesses:

• Track which employee created which presentation
• Find presentations by topic or keyword
• Monitor when presentations were last updated

For Developers:

• Build document management systems
• Create automated file organizing tools
• Add search functionality to presentation libraries

For Content Managers:

• Organize presentation libraries
• Track document versions and changes
• Ensure proper attribution and ownership

Problem: Getting no metadata back?

• Solution: The file might not have metadata, or the file format isn’t supported

Problem: Can’t read the file?

• Solution: Make sure the file path is correct and the file isn’t password-protected

Problem: Getting an error?

• Solution: Check that the file isn’t corrupted and is a valid PowerPoint file

You may easily run the code above and see the feature in action in our GitHub examples:

• GroupDocs.Parser for .NET examples
• GroupDocs.Parser for Java examples

Along with full featured .NET library we provide simple, but powerful free Apps.

You are welcome to parse documents and extract data from PDF, DOC, DOCX, PPT, PPTX, XLS, XLSX, Emails and more with our free online Free Online Document Parser App.