How to Build a React PowerPoint (PPT and PPTX) Viewer

This article was first published in April 2023 and was updated in August 2024.

In this blog post, learn how to build a React PowerPoint viewer using the PSPDFKit for Web SDK. You’ll open and view PPT or PPTX files directly in your web browser using client-side processing (no server required).

The image below shows what you’ll be building.

You can check out the demo to see it in action.

Opening and Rendering Office Documents in the Browser

PSPDFKit for Web brings support for Word, Excel, and PowerPoint formats to your application, without you or your users needing any MS Office software, MS Office licenses, or third-party open source software. The technology works by converting an Office document to PDF directly in the browser, and the document is then rendered in our JavaScript viewer.

Unlocking More Capabilities with Office-to-PDF Conversion

​​By converting an Office document to PDF using client-side JavaScript, you have the option to support a rich array of additional Office document functionality, such as:

• Text editing — Edit text directly in the displayed Office document.

• Page manipulation — Organize documents by adding, removing, or rearranging pages.

• Annotations — Boost collaboration by adding text highlights, comments, or stamps.

• Adding signatures — Draw, type, or upload a signature directly to an Office document.

Explore Demo

Requirements to Get Started

To get started, you’ll need:

• The latest version of Node.js.

• A package manager compatible with npm. This guide contains usage examples for Yarn and the npm client (installed with Node.js by default).

Setting Up a New React Project with Vite

1. To get started, create a new React project using Vite:

# Using Yarn
yarn create vite pspdfkit-react-example --template react

# Using npm
npm create vite@latest pspdfkit-react-example -- --template react

2. Change to the created project directory:

cd pspdfkit-react-example

Adding PSPDFKit to Your Project

1. Add the PSPDFKit dependency:

yarn add pspdfkit

npm install --save pspdfkit

2. Copy the PSPDFKit for Web library assets to the public directory:

cp -R ./node_modules/pspdfkit/dist/pspdfkit-lib public/pspdfkit-lib

The code above will copy the pspdfkit-lib directory from within node_modules/ into the public/ directory to make it available to the SDK at runtime.

3. Make sure your public directory contains a pspdfkit-lib directory with the PSPDFKit library assets.

Displaying a PowerPoint Document

1. Add a PowerPoint (PPT, PPTX) document you want to display to the public directory. You can use our demo document as an example.

2. Create a new component to handle PDF rendering. In the src/components/ directory, create a file named PdfViewerComponent.jsx with the following content:

import { useEffect, useRef } from 'react';

export default function PdfViewerComponent(props) {
	const containerRef = useRef(null);

	useEffect(() => {
		const container = containerRef.current;
		let PSPDFKit, instance;

		(async function () {
			PSPDFKit = await import('pspdfkit');

			PSPDFKit.unload(container);

			instance = await PSPDFKit.load({
				container,
				document: props.document,
				baseUrl: `${window.location.protocol}//${
					window.location.host
				}/${import.meta.env.BASE_URL}`,
			});
		})();

		return () => PSPDFKit && PSPDFKit.unload(container);
	}, []);

	return (
		<div
			ref={containerRef}
			style={{ width: '100%', height: '100vh' }}
		/>
	);
}

3. Integrate this component into your app by updating the src/App.jsx file:

import PdfViewerComponent from './components/PdfViewerComponent';

function App() {
	return (
		<div className="App" style={{ width: '100vw' }}>
			<div className="PDF-viewer">
				<PdfViewerComponent document={'slides.pptx'} />
			</div>
		</div>
	);
}

export default App;

4. Your project structure will now look like this:

pspdfkit-react-example/
├── public/
│   ├── pspdfkit-lib/
│   └── slides.pptx
├── src/
│   ├── components
│   |   └── PdfViewerComponent.jsx
|   └── App.jsx
├── package.json
└── yarn.lock

5. Start the app and run it in your default browser:

# Using Yarn
yarn dev

# Using npm
npm run dev

A Note about Fonts

In client-side web applications for Microsoft Office-to-PDF conversion, PSPDFKit addresses font licensing constraints through font substitutions, typically replacing unavailable fonts with their equivalents — like Arial with Noto. For precise font matching, you can provide your own fonts, embed them into source files, or designate paths to your .ttf fonts for custom solutions.

Adding Even More Capabilities

Once you’ve deployed your viewer, you can start customizing it to meet your specific requirements or easily add more capabilities. To help you get started, here are some of our most popular React guides:

• Instant synchronization
• Document assembly
• Page manipulation
• Editor
• Forms
• Signatures
• Redaction
• Document security

Conclusion

You should now have our React PowerPoint viewer up and running in your web application. If you hit any snags, don’t hesitate to reach out to our Support team for help.

You can also integrate our React PowerPoint viewer using web frameworks like Angular, Vue.js, and jQuery. To see a list of all web frameworks, start your free trial. Or, launch our demo to see our viewer in action.

FAQ

Here are a few frequently asked questions about building a PowerPoint viewer in React.

How can I build a PowerPoint viewer in React?

You can build a PowerPoint viewer in React by setting up a React project, installing PSPDFKit, adding the library assets, and creating a component to display the PowerPoint document.

What are the steps to set up a React PowerPoint viewer?

To set up a React PowerPoint viewer, create a React app, install PSPDFKit, copy the library assets, configure a viewer component, and run the application to see it in action.

Can I customize the PowerPoint viewer in React?

Yes, you can customize the PowerPoint viewer by adding custom navigation controls, styling the components with CSS, and integrating additional features like annotations or slideshows.