Overflow Tables

Preview Version

This documentation is currently being worked on and may be incomplete or subject to change. If you spot any mistakes or have suggestions, please contact one of the maintainers.

Dynamic tables that automatically flow content across multiple columns based on length.

When to use:

✅ Content length varies significantly
✅ Need multi-column horizontal flow
✅ Sections with subsections
✅ Variable amounts of content per section

(Todo: Add PDF example image)

Template Structure:

Special two-row table:
- Row 1: Titles ([TITLE])
- Row 2: Headers ([T_HEADER]) and Content ([T_CONTENT])

Excel / DataFrame Format:

Column1	Column2	Column3	...
TITLE (Section A)	TITLE (Section B)	TITLE (Section C)	...
T_HEADER	T_HEADER	T_HEADER	...
T_CONTENT	T_CONTENT	T_CONTENT	...
T_HEADER	T_HEADER	T_HEADER	...
T_CONTENT	T_CONTENT	T_CONTENT	...
...	...	...	...

Key Points:

• Row 0: Section Titles
• Row 1, 3, 5, ...: Column Headers
• Row 2, 4, 6, ...: Corresponding Content

Code Example:

Configuration

If you are working with the PowerAutomate workflow, you want to check the Configuration Documentation for setting up the overflow table feature.

import pandas as pd
from pptx import Presentation
from effctl_lib import find_table, traverse_table

# Prepare DataFrame
df = pd.DataFrame({
    'Column1': ['Section A', 'Header 1', 'Content A1', 'Header 2', 'Content A2'],
    'Column2': ['Section B', 'Header 1', 'Content B1', 'Header 2', 'Content B2'],
    'Column3': ['Section C', 'Header 1', 'Content C1', 'Header 2', 'Content C2'],
})

# Load and find table
presentation = Presentation("template.pptx")
tables = find_table(  # This example only uses 1 table, for multiple tables loop accordingly
    presentation = presentation, 
    slide_idx    = 0, # Requires get_tables to be run first to get correct slide index
    table_id     = 1  # Requires get_tables to be run first to get correct table id
)

# Fill with overflow handling
traverse_table(
    table_list    = tables,
    title_index   = 0,  # Title row
    header_index  = 1,  # Even rows are content, odd rows are header
    content_index = 2,  # - " -
    dataframe     = df, # DataFrame with data
    max_overflow  = 650 # Max character length per column
)

presentation.save("output/overflow_table_output.pptx")

How Overflow works:

max_overflow = 650  # Max characters per column

When content exceeds 650 characters, filling stops for the current column, column is then moved two to the right and continued there. One column is skipped for spacing.

Spacing

Disabling spacing is currently not supported.

Troubleshooting:

Content not appearing

# Verify placeholders exist
presentation = Presentation("template.pptx")
print(get_tables(presentation))
# This will return a list of all tables with their slide and table indices

Overflow not working

# Adjust max_overflow
traverse_table(..., max_overflow=300)  # Lower for more columns
traverse_table(..., max_overflow=1000) # Higher for fewer columns