Performance issue on adding shapes to slide using shapes.addTextBox

Question

Performance issue on adding shapes to slide using shapes.addTextBox

Sandhya Sriram 20

In office.js add-in, inserting a textbox to a slide using below code takes more than 15s - in PowerPoints opened in browser (Google chrome in my case). What can I do to improve this.

I do not face any such lag in Ppt opened in desktop app.

const textbox = shapes.addTextBox(
            text,
            {
              left: 700,
              top: calculatedTop,
              height: 85,
              width: 210,
            },
          );
          textbox.fill.setSolidColor('#CEC2FF');
          textbox.textFrame.textRange.font.name = 'Arial';
          textbox.textFrame.textRange.font.color = '#2905B7';
          textbox.textFrame.textRange.font.size = 8;
          textbox.textFrame.autoSizeSetting =
            'AutoSizeShapeToFitText';
            await context.sync();

Sandhya Sriram 20 Reputation points

2026-05-11T11:58:15.88+00:00

I use only one context.sync(), so that is already handled. Even with that, adding a shape in browser session takes a long time.

2 answers

Your answer

Sandhya Sriram 20 Reputation points

2026-05-11T11:58:15.88+00:00

I use only one context.sync(), so that is already handled. Even with that, adding a shape in browser session takes a long time.

Answer 1

Hi @Sandhya Sriram

To help me narrow this down, could you confirm your test environment?

Are you running this code using Script Lab (Insert → Add-ins → Script Lab)?
Or a custom Office add-in (your own project / sideloaded add-in)?
Have you tried running on another browser such as Edge? Does it make any changes?

If possible, can you please provide the full code and your PPT file via Private message?

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I look forward for your reply.

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Answer 2

Use a single context.sync() and batch operations on the shape to reduce the performance impact, especially in PowerPoint for the web.

shapes.addTextBox returns a Shape that can be fully configured before synchronizing with the host. The following pattern minimizes round trips and is consistent with the documented usage of addTextBox:

await PowerPoint.run(async (context) => {
  const shapes = context.presentation.slides.getItemAt(0).shapes;

  const textbox = shapes.addTextBox(text, {
    left: 700,
    top: calculatedTop,
    height: 85,
    width: 210,
  });

  // Configure all properties before syncing
  textbox.fill.transparency = 0; // example of batching with other fill props
  textbox.fill.setSolidColor('#CEC2FF');
  textbox.textFrame.textRange.font.name = 'Arial';
  textbox.textFrame.textRange.font.color = '#2905B7';
  textbox.textFrame.textRange.font.size = 8;
  textbox.textFrame.autoSizeSetting = 'AutoSizeShapeToFitText';

  // Single sync for all operations
  await context.sync();
});

Also ensure that:

shapes is obtained once per batch (as in the example above) rather than repeatedly in a loop with separate PowerPoint.run calls.
If multiple text boxes are added, create and configure all of them in the same PowerPoint.run and call context.sync() only once at the end.

This approach matches the documented pattern for ShapeCollection.addTextBox, which is designed to batch shape creation and property updates efficiently.

References:

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Performance issue on adding shapes to slide using shapes.addTextBox

2 answers

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