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How to create inline bindings in PowerPoint

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About this article

This article explains how to create an inline binding.
In PowerPoint a shape is used to add a smart field, like the name of the client coming from the form field. With inline bindings it is possible to combine the binding with other text in the shape, text placeholder or table. Inline bindings are supported in presentations, slides and slide elements.

 

Prerequisites

 

 

Technical limitations and clarifications

 
  • Inline binding configuration is only allowed on shapes, text placeholders and tables in slides. It is not allowed on complex shapes like Smart Arts, Action Button or Charts. Same as other smart fields in PowerPoint, inline bindings in the slide master and slide layouts can only be configured on shapes.
  • Inline bindings can have their own formatting (like font, style, size, color). The first applied style will be the style for the whole binding.
  • The bindings used in the inline binding shape are not validated in the Template Designer, but they are validated when the presentation is uploaded to the Library in the Admin Center.
  • To update the inline bindings (Update Presentation) the users Windows Clipboard is used and in the case of having a complex object (like a slide of a presentation) on the Clipboard - in case of an exception - it could happen that the clipboard is cleaned.
  • The presentation update process will be noticeably slower in comparison to the creation process if the inline bindings are heavily used.
  • Users cannot manually modify the updatable inline bindings in the generated document, when the binding on the shape has 'allow updates' selected. The inline bindings are replaced with fields which cannot be modified from PowerPoint. These fields can be removed manually, if they need to.

 

Steps to create an inline binding

  1. Create a presentation and open Template Designer.

  2. Create a form field. In this example a Client (text field) is used.

  3. Create a shape, text placeholder or table (named "shape" in the following steps). In this example a text placeholder is used. 

  4. Add text to the shape.

  5. Select the shape and from Template Designer, on the Template tab, select Custom inline binding:

    InlineBindingSelectSmartField.png

  6. Select the visibility and Allow updates when needed and click Add to template:

    InlineBindingAddSmartField.png

  7. The Template tab now shows the added custom inline binding:

    templatetabinlinebinding.png
     
    • Each custom inline binding will have a unique name on the Template tab. In the example above the name of the custom inline binding is slide/256/shape/9.
     
  8. The shape is now ready for inline bindings.

  9. To add the inline binding, you can either type the binding yourself or use the 'copy and paste' method: 

    • Keep the shape selected and from Template Designer, on the Template tab, click Add smart field.

    • Select the smart field. The binding of the smart field is copied. In this example {{Form.Client}} is copied:

      InlineBindingBindingCopied.png

    • Select the text in the shape that you want replace by the inline binding (or put your cursor at the position where you want to insert the binding) and paste the binding. The result might look like this example shown below:

      InlineBindingBindingPasted.png

 

Example 1 - inline binding in title and text placeholder

Inline bindings can be inserted in title placeholders and in text placeholders on slides. This example shows that inline bindings can be inserted multiple times. 

No inline bindings:

InlineBindingExample1Before.png

 

Using inline bindings:

InlineBindingExample1After.png

 

Example 2 - inline binding in table

When a slide contains a table, inline bindings can be inserted in the table. This example shows the insertion of inline bindings in the column 'Achieved'.

No inline bindings:

InlineBindingExample2Before.png

 

Using inline bindings:

InlineBindingExample2After.png

 

Example 3 - different formatting

Inline bindings can have their own formatting style. If you want to apply different colors for certain values, then you can use an inline binding for every color. This example shows the name in either blue or green based on the selected brand.

No inline bindings:

InlineBindingExample3Before.png

 

Using inline bindings:

InlineBindingExample3After.png

 

 
  • Inline bindings can contain functions and formulas, as shown in Example 3.

 

Related articles

 

 

Related to

powerpoint dynamics smart fields inline bindings
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