MATLAB: How to open MATLAB figures in Powerpoint and be able to edit them

figureMATLABmodifypointpowerpowerpoint

If I copy->paste or export MATLAB 7.5 (R2007b) created figures as images to Microsoft Powerpoint slides, I am unable to carry out MATLAB -like operations, for example, rescaling axes.

Best Answer

There is no direct way to modify MATLAB figures in Powerpoint since Powerpoint cannot import MATLAB figure files as images.

However, a possible workaround is to use Powerpoint's Control Toolbox to launch a new MATLAB figure by starting MATLAB as a COM server. This new figure can be positioned to overlap the existing figure on the Powerpoint slide and be edited using MATLAB 'Plot Tools' for demonstrations. Following is a description of one of the ways to do this. This example was tested in Microsoft Powerpoint 2003:

1.Enable the Control Toolbox : Open a Powerpoint slide and click on View->Toolbars->Control Toolbox.

2. Select an ActiveX control to insert in the slide. For this example, an image. This should create a control area on the slide. Now set the image area to display a saved image.

3. Write a VBA macro: Double click on the control area. This should open a VBA box to write a macro. For example, the following macro opens a MATLAB figure at the desired place on a powerpoint slide:

 Private Sub Image1_Click()
 Set Matlab = CreateObject("Matlab.Application")
 R = Matlab.Execute("figure ('position', [540 420 880 600])")
 Result = Matlab.Execute("surf(peaks)")
 %%to make MATLAB session visible
 Matlab.Visible = 1
 End Sub

Note that MATLAB needs to be registered as a COM Automation server prior to using this example. For registering MATLAB as a COM server, consult the product documentation.

Related Solutions

MATLAB: How to copy figures into Word using the COM interface in MATLAB

The following lines of code illustrates how you would do this using the COM Automation support that is available in MATLAB:

% Create a Word Automation Server and make it visible on the screen.
% This would be the equivalent of opening MS Word
word = actxserver('word.application');
set(word,'visible',1);
% Create a new document
doc1 = invoke(word.documents,'add');
% Specify the location by creating a range
range = invoke(doc1,'range');
x = 0:0.1:2*pi;
y = sin(x);
numOfFigures = 10;
% Loop through and create the figures
for n = 1:numOfFigures
    % Adds a new paragraph
    invoke(doc1.Paragraphs,'Add');
      % Select the new paragraph range
      range = invoke(doc1,'range',doc1.Paragraphs.Item(n).Range.Start);
      % Create a MATLAB Figure and copy it to the clipboard.  
      if mod(n,2) == 0
          plot(1:10)
      else
          plot(x,y,'r-*');
      end
      print(gcf,'-dmeta');
      % Paste the figure into the Word Document range that was previously selected
      invoke(range,'Paste')
  end
% Delete the handles that were created
delete(word)

More information about COM Automation support in MATLAB is found here:

https://www.mathworks.com/help/matlab/call-matlab-com-automation-server.html

MATLAB: How to adjust font styling on a powerpoint slide using MATLAB Report Generator

Instead of using the replace function to add the title, create the title using paragraph, perform the proper styling, then use "replace" to add it to the title of the slide.

For example, here we make the slideTitle blue and size 10, and THEN add it to the title section of the slide.

pre = Presentation('Test');
slide = add(pre, 'Title and Content');
slideTitle = Paragraph('Test title');
slideTitle.FontColor = 'blue'
slideTitle.FontSize = '10'
contents = find(slide,'Title');
replace(contents(1),slideTitle);

Best Answer

Related Solutions

MATLAB: How to copy figures into Word using the COM interface in MATLAB

MATLAB: How to adjust font styling on a powerpoint slide using MATLAB Report Generator

Related Question