Merge and Split Presentations with the DevExpress Presentation API Library

Nov 07, 2025
4 minutes to read

This topic contains examples that implement the following merge and split tasks:

Reuse slides in multiple presentations
Combine multiple presentations into one presentation
Split presentations

Notes on Presentation Merge Operations

Slide size may change when you merge presentations. The target presentation defines the size. If you merge a slide into a presentation with smaller slide size, some shapes may fall outside the visible area. However, these shapes remain in the presentation and keep their original coordinates.
Merged slides keep their original formatting and style settings.
Slide masters used by source presentation slides are automatically transferred to the target presentation (along with their theme and all their layouts).

Copy a Slide from Another Presentation

The following code snippet extracts a slide from a presentation and inserts it into another presentation:

C#
VB.NET

csharp

using DevExpress.Docs.Presentation;

namespace PptxSample;

public class Program {
    public static void Main(string[] _) {

        // Load the first presentation from a file
        Presentation presentation1 = new Presentation(File.ReadAllBytes(@"..\..\..\data\my-presentation.pptx"));

        // Load the second presentation from a file
        Presentation presentation2 = new Presentation(File.ReadAllBytes(@"..\..\..\data\NorthwindPresentation.pptx"));

        // Clone the first slide from the first presentation, so you can edit the copy not the original slide, if necessary
        Slide slide1 = presentation1.Slides[0].Clone();

        // Insert the cloned slide at the beginning of the second presentation
        presentation2.Slides.Insert(0, slide1);

        // Export the modified second presentation to a PDF file
        presentation2.ExportToPdf(new FileStream(@"D:\exported-document.pdf", FileMode.Create));
    }
}

Imports DevExpress.Docs.Presentation

Namespace PptxSample

    Public Class Program
        Public Shared Sub Main(__ As String())
            ' Load the first presentation from a file
            Dim presentation1 As Presentation = New Presentation(File.ReadAllBytes("..\..\..\data\my-presentation.pptx"))
            ' Load the second presentation from a file
            Dim presentation2 As Presentation = New Presentation(File.ReadAllBytes("..\..\..\data\NorthwindPresentation.pptx"))

            ' Clone the first slide from the first presentation, so you can edit the copy not the original slide, if necessary
            Dim slide1 As Slide = presentation1.Slides(0).Clone()

            ' Insert the cloned slide at the beginning of the second presentation
            presentation2.Slides.Insert(0, slide1)

            ' Export the modified second presentation to a PDF file
            presentation2.ExportToPdf(New FileStream("D:\exported-document.pdf", FileMode.Create))
        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace

Merge Multiple Presentations

The following code snippet adds slides to a presentation from another presentation to merge two presentations:

C#
VB.NET

csharp

using DevExpress.Docs.Presentation;

namespace PptxSample;

public class Program {
    public static void Main(string[] _) {

        // Load the first presentation from a file
        Presentation presentation1 = new Presentation(File.ReadAllBytes(@"..\..\..\data\my-presentation.pptx"));

        // Load the second presentation from a file
        Presentation presentation2 = new Presentation(File.ReadAllBytes(@"..\..\..\data\NorthwindPresentation.pptx"));

        // Append all slides from the second presentation to the first presentation
        foreach (Slide slide in presentation2.Slides) {
            presentation1.Slides.Add(slide);
        }

        // Export the resulting presentation to PDF
        presentation1.ExportToPdf(new FileStream(@"D:\exported-document.pdf", FileMode.Create));
    }
}

Imports DevExpress.Docs.Presentation

Namespace PptxSample

    Public Class Program
        Public Shared Sub Main(__ As String())
            ' Load the first presentation from a file
            Dim presentation1 As Presentation = New Presentation(File.ReadAllBytes("..\..\..\data\my-presentation.pptx"))

            ' Load the second presentation from a file
            Dim presentation2 As Presentation = New Presentation(File.ReadAllBytes("..\..\..\data\NorthwindPresentation.pptx"))

            ' Append all slides from the second presentation to the first presentation
            For Each slide In presentation2.Slides
                presentation1.Slides.Add(slide)
            Next

            ' Export the resulting presentation to PDF
            presentation1.ExportToPdf(New FileStream("D:\exported-document.pdf", FileMode.Create))

        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace

Split Presentations

The following code snippet extracts slides from a presentation and puts them into an empty presentation:

C#
VB.NET

csharp

using DevExpress.Docs.Presentation;

namespace PptxSample;

public class Program {
    public static void Main(string[] _) {

        // Load the Northwind presentation from a file
        Presentation presentation1 = new Presentation(File.ReadAllBytes(@"..\..\..\data\NorthwindPresentation.pptx"));

        // Create a new empty presentation
        Presentation presentation2 = new Presentation();

        // Remove default slides in presentation 
        presentation2.Slides.Clear();

        // Set the presentation1 slide size to match presentation2
        presentation2.SlideSize = presentation1.SlideSize;

        // Move the first three slides from presentation1 to presentation2
        for (int i = 0; i < 3; i++)
        {
            presentation2.Slides.Add(presentation1.Slides[i]);
            presentation1.Slides.RemoveAt(i);
        }

        // Export the modified presentation1 (with the remaining slides) to PDF
        presentation1.ExportToPdf(new FileStream(@"D:\exported-document1.pdf", FileMode.Create));
        // Export presentation2 (with the first three slides) to PDF
        presentation2.ExportToPdf(new FileStream(@"D:\exported-document2.pdf", FileMode.Create));
    }
}

Imports DevExpress.Docs.Presentation

Namespace PptxSample

    Public Class Program
        Public Shared Sub Main(__ As String())

            ' Load the Northwind presentation from a file
            Dim presentation1 As Presentation = New Presentation(File.ReadAllBytes("..\..\..\data\NorthwindPresentation.pptx"))

            ' Create a new empty presentation
            Dim presentation2 As Presentation = New Presentation()
            ' Remove default slides in presentation 
            presentation2.Slides.Clear()
            ' Set the slide size to match presentation2
            presentation2.SlideSize = presentation1.SlideSize

            ' Move the first three slides from presentation1 to presentation2
            For i = 0 To 2
                presentation2.Slides.Add(presentation1.Slides(i))
                presentation1.Slides.RemoveAt(i)
            Next

            ' Export the modified presentation1 (with the remaining slides) to PDF
            presentation1.ExportToPdf(New FileStream("D:\exported-document1.pdf", FileMode.Create))
            ' Export presentation2 (with the first three slides) to PDF
            presentation2.ExportToPdf(New FileStream("D:\exported-document2.pdf", FileMode.Create))

        End Sub
    End Class
End Namespace