Guides object

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New Guides object in PowerPoint 2013

2013 has introduced a long requested feature - object model support for guides. You can now add, position and delete guides. The guides are available on the Presentation, CustomLayout and SlideMaster objects.

Each object has it's own collection of guides. Deleting the guides on the presentation object does not delete the guides on the SlideMaster or CustomLayouts. You will need to enumerate through all the objects to clear out all the guides.

Another thing to note is that if you create a guide at a location that already has a guide then a new guide will not be created. Instead PowerPoint will return a reference to the guide at that location and all edits performed will apply to that guide.

Supported versions: PowerPoint 2013

' --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

' Copyright ©1999-2022, Shyam Pillai, All Rights Reserved.

' --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

' You are free to use this code within your own applications, add-ins,

' documents etc but you are expressly forbidden from selling or 

' otherwise distributing this source code without prior consent.

' This includes both posting free demo projects made from this

' code as well as reproducing the code in text or html format.

' --------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sub InsertNewGuides()

With ActivePresentation

    'Position is in points just as shapes

    With .Guides.Add(ppHorizontalGuide, 100)

        .Color.RGB = vbMagenta

    End With

 

    With .Guides.Add(ppVerticalGuide, 100)

        .Color.RGB = vbMagenta

    End With

 

    Dim I As Long

 

    Debug.Print "Total guides in the presentation: " & .Guides.Count

    For I = 1 To .Guides.Count

        Debug.Print "Added guide at : " & .Guides(I).Position & _

            " RGB color value: " & .Guides(I).Color.RGB & " Orientation: " & _

            IIf(.Guides(I).Orientation = ppHorizontalGuide, "Horizontal", "Verical")

    Next

    'Guides can be assigned to slide masters

    With .Slides(1).Design.SlideMaster

        With .Guides.Add(ppHorizontalGuide, 200)

            .Color.RGB = vbGreen

        End With

        With .Guides.Add(ppVerticalGuide, 200)

            .Color.RGB = vbGreen

        End With

 

        Debug.Print "Total guides in the slidemaster: " & .Guides.Count

        For I = 1 To .Guides.Count

            Debug.Print "Added guide at : " & .Guides(I).Position & _

                " RGB color value: " & .Guides(I).Color.RGB & " Orientation: " & _

                IIf(.Guides(I).Orientation = ppHorizontalGuide, "Horizontal", _

                "Verical")

        Next

 

    End With

    'Guides can be assigned to custom layouts

    With .Slides(1).CustomLayout

        With .Guides.Add(ppHorizontalGuide, 300)

            .Color.RGB = vbBlue

        End With

        Debug.Print "Total guides in the custom layout used by slide 1: " & .Guides.Count

        For I = 1 To .Guides.Count

            Debug.Print "Added guide at : " & .Guides(I).Position & _

                " RGB color value: " & .Guides(I).Color.RGB & " Orientation: " & _

                IIf(.Guides(I).Orientation = ppHorizontalGuide, "Horizontal", _

                "Verical")

        Next

    

    End With

    

End With

End Sub

 

Sub DeleteGuides()

Dim I As Long

'Delete Presentation level guides

With ActivePresentation

    For I = .Guides.Count To 1 Step -1

        .Guides(I).Delete

    Next

End With

'Delete guides on the design slidemaster used by slide 1

With ActivePresentation.Slides(1).Design.SlideMaster

    For I = .Guides.Count To 1 Step -1

        .Guides(I).Delete

    Next

End With

'Delete guides on the custom layout used by slide 1

With ActivePresentation.Slides(1).CustomLayout

    For I = .Guides.Count To 1 Step -1

        .Guides(I).Delete

    Next

End With

End Sub