Is there a way to replace the text inside a TextBox shape while retaining the text formatting?

Question

I'm trying to replace text inside a textbox of a slide while retaining the text formatting of the previous text. Is there a way for this to work using google apps scripts methods?

I tried converting the Google Slide to a PDF then to DOC to get the HTML value so that I can somehow retain the text formatting. While the conversions work, I'm stuck at the part where I have to replace the text within the TextBox while retaining the original text formatting.

So far this is what I have:

function replacePresentationContent(presentationCopyId, slideId, shapeId, content) {
  var presentationCopy = SlidesApp.openById(presentationCopyId);
  var slidesCopy = presentationCopy.getSlides();

  for (var i = 0; i < this.getSlidesCount(presentationCopy); i++) {
    var slideCopy = slidesCopy[i];
    var slidesCopyId = slideCopy.getObjectId();
    var shapesCopy = slideCopy.getShapes();

    if (slidesCopyId === slideId) {
      for (var j = 0; j < shapesCopy.length; j++) {
        if (shapesCopy[j].getObjectId() === shapeId) {
         var textRange = shapesCopy[j].getText();
           textRange.setText(content);
        }
      }
    }
  }
}

This looks plausible. Would you mind sharing the code that you've tried already? We should be able to build from there. — Sourabh Choraria, Oct 14 '19 at 08:13
@SourabhChoraria, I modified my question to include how I do it. — Justin Amargo, Oct 14 '19 at 09:58

score 3 · Answer 1 · answered Oct 14 '19 at 09:08

3

You can do this by manipulating the text of the shape in the following way:

var shape = slide.getShapes()[0]; //Change this to get the Shape you want
shape.getText().setText("The new text you want here, but with the same formatting!");

Hope this helps!

answered Oct 14 '19 at 09:08

ZektorH

2,680
1
7
20

Thanks for the answer, but I already tried this. This only gets the text formatting of the first word and doesn't retain the other formatting of the other words in the same textbox. – Justin Amargo Oct 14 '19 at 09:38

score 3 · Answer 2 · answered Oct 31 '19 at 10:59

3

so I found that you can use the function getRuns() to isolate the formatted text. Hope this helps.

answered Oct 31 '19 at 10:59

Justin Amargo

71
7

Is there a way to replace the text inside a TextBox shape while retaining the text formatting?

2 Answers2