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Troubleshooting

Common issues and solutions when using Power CLI.

Installation Issues

Command not found: power

Symptom: Running power gives "command not found" error.

Solutions:

  1. Ensure the package is installed: 

    pip install nietzsche

  2. Check if pip scripts are in your PATH: 

    python -m power --help

  3. Try reinstalling with pipx: 

    pipx install nietzsche

Import errors

Symptom: ModuleNotFoundError: No module named 'pptx'

Solution: Install missing dependencies: 

pip install python-pptx click rich pyyaml pillow

Or reinstall the package: 

pip uninstall nietzsche
pip install nietzsche

Template Issues

Template file not found

Symptom: Error: Invalid value for '-t' / '--template': Path 'template.pptx' does not exist.

Solutions:

  1. Check the file path: 

    ls -la template.pptx

  2. Use absolute path: 

    power create out.pptx -t /full/path/to/template.pptx

  3. Check current directory: 

    pwd

Layout not found

Symptom: Layout specified in YAML doesn't work.

Solution: Inspect the template to see available layouts: 

power inspect template.pptx

Use the exact layout name from the output: 

- type: content
  layout: "Title and Content"  # Must match exactly

Placeholder index error

Symptom: Warning: Could not fill placeholder 10: ...

Solution: 1. Find valid placeholder indices: 

power inspect template.pptx

  1. Use the correct index in your YAML: 
    placeholder_images:
  10: image.png  # Use idx from inspect output

YAML Issues

YAML parsing errors

Symptom: Error: while parsing a block mapping

Common causes:

  1. Incorrect indentation: 

    # Wrong
slides:
- type: content
  title: Test

# Correct
slides:
  - type: content
    title: Test

  2. Missing quotes around special characters: 

    # Wrong - colon causes issues
title: Revenue: Q1 Report

# Correct
title: "Revenue: Q1 Report"

  3. Tab characters (use spaces instead): 

    # Convert tabs to spaces
sed -i 's/\t/  /g' slides.yaml

Chart data mismatch

Symptom: Chart looks wrong or error about data length.

Solution: Ensure series values match categories count: 

# Wrong - 4 categories but 3 values
categories: [Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4]
series:
  Revenue: [100, 200, 300]  # Missing one value!

# Correct
categories: [Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4]
series:
  Revenue: [100, 200, 300, 400]

File Issues

Permission denied

Symptom: Error: Permission denied: output.pptx

Solutions:

  1. Close the file if it's open in PowerPoint
  2. Check file permissions: 
    ls -la output.pptx
  3. Try a different output path: 
    power create ~/Desktop/output.pptx

File is corrupted

Symptom: PowerPoint can't open the generated file.

Solutions:

  1. Check for errors during generation
  2. Verify template isn't corrupted: 
    power inspect template.pptx
  3. Try without a template: 
    power create test.pptx --title "Test"

Image not found

Symptom: FileNotFoundError: Image not found: images/photo.png

Solutions:

  1. Use absolute paths: 

    image: /full/path/to/image.png

  2. Paths are relative to where you run the command: 

    cd /project/root
power generate slides.yaml -o out.pptx

  3. Check the file exists: 

    ls -la images/photo.png

Common Errors

Slide index out of range

Symptom: Error: Slide index 5 out of range

Solution: Check slide count first: 

power inspect presentation.pptx
# Shows: Slides: 3
# Valid indices are 0, 1, 2

Invalid replacement format

Symptom: Error: Invalid replacement format: name (expected KEY=VALUE)

Solution: Use the correct format: 

# Wrong
power replace deck.pptx name John -o out.pptx

# Correct
power replace deck.pptx NAME=John -o out.pptx

JSON output parsing

Symptom: JSON output contains extra characters.

Solution: Use --json flag properly: 

# For piping to jq
power inspect template.pptx --json | jq '.layouts'

# For saving to file
power inspect template.pptx --json > info.json

Performance Issues

Slow generation with many images

Solutions:

  1. Optimize images before embedding: 

    # Resize large images
convert large.png -resize 1920x1080 optimized.png

  2. Use compressed formats (JPEG for photos)

  3. Process in batches for large presentations

Memory errors with large templates

Solution: Use simpler templates or split into multiple presentations.

Getting Help

If you can't resolve an issue:

  1. Check the GitHub Issues

  2. Create a new issue with:

  3. Power CLI version (power --version)
  4. Python version (python --version)
  5. Operating system
  6. Complete error message

  7. Minimal YAML to reproduce

  8. Include relevant files (sanitized of sensitive data)

Debug Mode

For detailed error information, run Python directly:

from power import PowerPresentation
import traceback

try:
    ppt = PowerPresentation(template="template.pptx")
    # ... operations
except Exception as e:
    traceback.print_exc()

See Also