Add notes to a Powerpoint slide using Apache POI

apache-poi, java

Solution

The question ist quite old but I hope this answer will help someone. Using Apache POI 3.12 the following code should add some text as notes to a slide:

    // create a new empty slide show
    XMLSlideShow ppt = new XMLSlideShow();

    // add first slide
    XSLFSlide slide = ppt.createSlide();

    // get or create notes
    XSLFNotes note = ppt.getNotesSlide(slide);

    // insert text
    for (XSLFTextShape shape : note.getPlaceholders()) {
        if (shape.getTextType() == Placeholder.BODY) {
            shape.setText("String");
            break;
        }
    }

    // save
    [...]

Problem

Is it possible to add notes to a powerpoint slide created programatically using Apache POI? Here's what I have so far ``` Slide slide = ppt.createSlide(); org.apache.poi.hslf.record.Notes notesRecord = new ???; // <--- No Public constructor org.apache.poi.hslf.model.Notes noteModel = new org.apache.poi.hslf.model.Notes(notesRecord ); // <--- Only one constructor which takes a org.apache.poi.hslf.record.Notes // hopefully make some notes // add the notes to the slide slide.setNotes(noteModel); ``` As you can see, there doesn't seem to be a way to create the objects needed to add notes to the slide object. Calling ``` Notes notesSheet = slide.getNotesSheet(); ``` ...returns null. Is there another means to create the necessary notes object, perhaps using a factory class that I have not found? Or, is there another way to add a note to a slide that doesn't involve working with the Note classes?

Original source