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I would like to develop an add-in for Microsoft PowerPoint. I have Visual Studio 2012 installed and ready, but i can't seem to find any simple tutorials or getting started guides on the subject except this brilliant (sarcasm) guide from Microsoft: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/vstudio/cc668192.aspx

I have been searching the net for a few days, but without any luck.

Is there anyone with experience in developing add-ins for PowerPoint, who could give me a hint on how to get started?

It would be great to know if you prefer Visual Basic or C# and why.

Lastly, sorry if I sound like a rookie. I am for sure.

Kind regards.

Nicolai Lissau
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  • This is very old, but for others (like myself) looking for ways to work with PowerPoint (or other Office programs) programmatically this may be of interest: https://github.com/NetOfficeFw – RenniePet Sep 02 '17 at 09:41

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http://blogs.msdn.com/b/jasonz/archive/2012/05/24/my-favorite-features-creating-storyboards-with-powerpoint.aspx

http://www.codeproject.com/Articles/420406/PowerPoint-timer-addin

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/office/bb960904%28v=office.12%29.aspx

I guess these are good one's for starting up...with code..

sumeet kumar
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Visual Basic (.NET, I assume) or C#?

If you're new to automating PowerPoint, neither.

Use VBA. It's built into PPT, much quicker to work with, you can test little snippets of code right there in the IDE w/o having to compile first.

If you decide you want to move it into VB.NET or C# later, it shouldn't be that big a struggle, assuming you know either of those tongues.

Or once having developed it, you can save the PPT containing your VBA as an add-in (PPA or PPAM file, depending on the version of PPT you want to target). And distribute it with very little more than that needed; no megs of runtimes/frameworks etc.

Steve Rindsberg
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  • Thank you for your reply. I have been working a little with VBA, but I was not sure it would be sufficient. I would like to make an application for commercial use, and in order to make a COM-add in i need to develop it in .NET or C# right? Also, i would like for my app to connect to a website to get some statistics and show them in a graph. I was not sure if this was possible in VBA either? – Nicolai Lissau Feb 03 '13 at 13:13
  • You can also develop COM add-ins in VB (classic, not .NET) and other non .NET languages. But let's back up and start with "Why do you figure you need a COM add-in?" You can certainly use VBA (mostly via calls to Win API functions) to download data from the net via HTTP/FTP etc, and once you have the data, Excel/PPT can make the chart for you. – Steve Rindsberg Feb 03 '13 at 18:07