docling-project/docling · error · ImportError

The 'python-pptx' package is required to process PowerPoint

Error message

The 'python-pptx' package is required to process PowerPoint files. Install it with `pip install 'docling-slim[format-pptx]'`.

What it means

ImportError raised by MsPowerpointDocumentBackend.__init__ when the optional dependency python-pptx is unavailable. Like the Excel backend, the PowerPoint support in docling-slim is opt-in via an extra, and the error message names the exact extra to install. The original import error is chained so the environment problem is traceable.

Source

Thrown at docling/backend/mspowerpoint_backend.py:144

    """

    # XML relationship types
    COMMENT_REL = (
        "http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships/comments"
    )
    COMMENT_AUTHORS_REL = (
        "http://schemas.openxmlformats.org/officeDocument/2006/relationships/"
        "commentAuthors"
    )

    def __init__(
        self,
        in_doc: InputDocument,
        path_or_stream: Union[BytesIO, Path],
        options: Optional[MsPowerpointBackendOptions] = None,
    ) -> None:
        if not _PPTX_AVAILABLE:
            raise ImportError(_INSTALL_HINT) from _PPTX_IMPORT_ERROR
        if in_doc.format == InputFormat.PPT:
            path_or_stream = convert_to_modern_format(path_or_stream, "ppt", "pptx")
        if options is None:
            options = MsPowerpointBackendOptions()
        super().__init__(in_doc, path_or_stream, options)
        self.path_or_stream: Union[BytesIO, Path] = path_or_stream
        self.page_range = in_doc.limits.page_range

        self.pptx_to_pdf_converter: Optional[Callable] = None
        self.pptx_to_pdf_converter_init: bool = False
        self._render_charts: bool = False

        self.pptx_obj: Optional[presentation.Presentation] = None
        self.valid: bool = False
        try:
            if isinstance(self.path_or_stream, BytesIO):
                self.pptx_obj = Presentation(self.path_or_stream)
            elif isinstance(self.path_or_stream, Path):

View on GitHub (pinned to 61d76f1ff3)

Solutions

1. Install the extra: `pip install 'docling-slim[format-pptx]'` (equivalently `pip install python-pptx`).
2. Or install full `docling` which pulls format dependencies.
3. Pre-flight check: `python -c 'import pptx'` in deployment smoke tests.
4. For legacy .ppt also ensure LibreOffice (soffice) is installed.

Example fix

# before
pip install docling-slim
DocumentConverter().convert('deck.pptx')  # ImportError

# after
pip install 'docling-slim[format-pptx]'
DocumentConverter().convert('deck.pptx')

def pptx_support_available() -> bool:
    try:
        import pptx  # noqa: F401
        return True
    except ImportError:
        return False

if not pptx_support_available():
    raise SystemExit("pip install 'docling-slim[format-pptx]'")

try:
    result = converter.convert(pptx_path)
except ImportError as e:
    if 'python-pptx' in str(e):
        raise SystemExit("Missing dependency: pip install 'docling-slim[format-pptx]'") from e
    raise

When it happens

Trigger: Converting .pptx files while running docling-slim without the format-pptx extra; also .ppt legacy files, since they are pre-converted to .pptx (via soffice) and then still require python-pptx to parse.

Common situations: Slim Docker/CI installs, picking docling-slim to avoid heavy ML dependencies, or environments where python-pptx was pruned by a dependency resolver. Missing LibreOffice for .ppt input produces a different failure but this one hits first if python-pptx is absent.

Related errors

• The 'openpyxl' package is required to process Excel files. I
• Libreoffice not found
• LibreOffice is required to convert a .{source_suffix} file t
• MsPowerpointDocumentBackend could not load document with has
• The 'python-docx' package is required to process Word files.

AI-assisted analysis of docling-project/docling@61d76f1ff3 (2026-08-14). Data as JSON: /api/errors/623020dd6fd18878. Report an issue: GitHub.