Keynote Creator Skill

This skill guides you on how to create and manipulate Keynote presentations on macOS using AppleScript.

When to Use

Create a Keynote presentation when the user asks to:

• Create a presentation/slideshow/PPT

• Generate slides from documents, reports, or data

• Make a pitch deck, proposal, or summary presentation

• Convert content into visual presentation format

Workflow

• Open Keynote (for visual demo): Use macos_show(app: "keynote") if visual mode is enabled

• Create presentation: Use bash with AppleScript

• Add slides: Use AppleScript to add and configure slides

• Set content: Add titles, body text, and images

• Export: Save as .key or export to PDF

CRITICAL: Stability Best Practices

ALWAYS use a SINGLE AppleScript to create the entire presentation. Do NOT run multiple separate scripts.

Why this matters:

• Each osascript invocation may restart Keynote's scripting bridge

• Multiple rapid scripts cause Keynote to crash or become unresponsive

• A single comprehensive script is much more stable

Bad approach (causes crashes):

Script 1: Create document

osascript -e 'tell application "Keynote" to make new document'

Script 2: Add slide 1

osascript -e 'tell application "Keynote" to tell front document to make new slide'

Script 3: Set title

osascript -e 'tell application "Keynote" to tell front document to ...'

This will likely crash!

Good approach (stable):

osascript << 'EOF' tell application "Keynote" activate delay 1 -- Wait for Keynote to fully launch

-- Do ALL operations in ONE script
set newDoc to make new document with properties {document theme:theme "White"}
delay 0.5  -- Brief pause after creating document

tell newDoc
    -- All slides and content in one block
    ...
end tell

end tell EOF

Required delays:

• After activate : delay 1 (let app fully launch)

• After make new document : delay 0.5

• After adding each slide: delay 0.3 (optional but recommended for many slides)

AppleScript Patterns

Create New Presentation

osascript << 'EOF' tell application "Keynote" activate set newDoc to make new document with properties {document theme:theme "White"} return name of newDoc end tell EOF

Available themes: "White", "Black", "Gradient", "Classic", "Modern Type", "Showcase", "Photo Essay", "Bold", "Industrial", "Blueprint"

Add a Slide

osascript << 'EOF' tell application "Keynote" tell front document -- Add slide with specific layout set newSlide to make new slide with properties {base slide:master slide "Title - Center"} end tell end tell EOF

Common master slides (layouts):

• "Title - Center"

• Title and subtitle centered

• "Title - Top"

• Title at top with content area

• "Title & Subtitle"

• Classic title slide

• "Title & Bullets"

• Title with bullet points

• "Title, Bullets & Photo"

• Title, bullets, and image

• "Bullets"

• Full slide bullet points

• "Photo"

• Full slide image

• "Photo - Horizontal"

• Landscape photo layout

• "Quote"

• Quote layout

• "Blank"

• Empty slide

Set Slide Title and Body

osascript << 'EOF' tell application "Keynote" tell front document tell current slide -- Set title set object text of default title item to "Your Title Here"

        -- Set body text (for slides with body placeholder)
        set object text of default body item to "• Point 1

• Point 2 • Point 3" end tell end tell end tell EOF

Add Text Box with Custom Position

osascript << 'EOF' tell application "Keynote" tell front document tell current slide set newText to make new text item with properties {object text:"Custom text here"} set position of newText to {100, 200} set width of newText to 400 set height of newText to 100 end tell end tell end tell EOF

Add Image to Slide

osascript << 'EOF' tell application "Keynote" tell front document tell current slide set imgFile to POSIX file "/path/to/image.jpg" set newImage to make new image with properties {file:imgFile} set position of newImage to {300, 200} set width of newImage to 400 end tell end tell end tell EOF

Navigate to Specific Slide

osascript << 'EOF' tell application "Keynote" tell front document set current slide to slide 3 end tell end tell EOF

Get Slide Count

osascript -e 'tell application "Keynote" to count slides of front document'

Export to PDF

osascript << 'EOF' tell application "Keynote" tell front document set exportPath to POSIX file "/Users/username/Desktop/presentation.pdf" export to exportPath as PDF end tell end tell EOF

Save Presentation

osascript << 'EOF' tell application "Keynote" tell front document set savePath to POSIX file "/Users/username/Desktop/my_presentation.key" save in savePath end tell end tell EOF

Complete Example: Multi-Slide Presentation

This is the recommended pattern - ALL operations in ONE script with proper delays:

osascript << 'EOF' tell application "Keynote" activate delay 1 -- IMPORTANT: Wait for Keynote to fully launch

-- Create new document
set newDoc to make new document with properties {document theme:theme "White"}
delay 0.5  -- Wait for document to initialize

tell newDoc
    -- First slide is created automatically, set it as title slide
    tell slide 1
        set base slide to master slide "Title - Center"
        set object text of default title item to "Q1 2026 Business Review"
        set object text of default body item to "Financial Services Division"
    end tell
    delay 0.3
    
    -- Add Overview slide
    set slide2 to make new slide with properties {base slide:master slide "Title & Bullets"}
    delay 0.3
    tell slide2
        set object text of default title item to "Executive Summary"
        set object text of default body item to "• Revenue increased 15% YoY

• New client acquisition: $15M AUM • Client satisfaction: 4.8/5.0 • All portfolios outperforming benchmarks" end tell

    -- Add Performance slide
    set slide3 to make new slide with properties {base slide:master slide "Title & Bullets"}
    delay 0.3
    tell slide3
        set object text of default title item to "Investment Performance"
        set object text of default body item to "• Growth Portfolio: +3.2% (Benchmark +2.8%)

• Balanced Portfolio: +2.1% (Benchmark +1.9%) • Income Portfolio: +0.9% (Benchmark +0.7%) • Average Alpha: +0.3%" end tell

    -- Add Next Steps slide
    set slide4 to make new slide with properties {base slide:master slide "Title & Bullets"}
    delay 0.3
    tell slide4
        set object text of default title item to "Q2 Priorities"
        set object text of default body item to "• Complete endowment fund implementation

• Expand alternative investment offerings • Launch client education seminar series • Target: $25M total new AUM" end tell

    delay 0.5  -- Wait before saving
    -- Save the presentation
    set savePath to POSIX file "~/Desktop/Q1_Review.key"
    save in savePath
end tell

return "Presentation created with 4 slides"

end tell EOF

Key points about this example:

• Single osascript command containing everything

• delay 1 after activate to let Keynote fully launch

• delay 0.5 after creating document

• delay 0.3 after each make new slide

• delay 0.5 before save operation

Tips for Better Presentations

• Structure: Always start with a title slide, then overview, details, and conclusion

• Bullet Points: Keep to 4-6 points per slide for readability

• Titles: Use clear, action-oriented titles

• Consistency: Use the same master slide for similar content types

• Images: Position images consistently across slides

Error Handling

When Keynote operations fail, common issues are:

• Crashes/Freezes: Almost always caused by running multiple separate scripts. Solution: Combine into ONE script.

• App not running: Use macos_show(app: "keynote") first, then wait 1-2 seconds before running the creation script.

• Invalid master slide name: Check available layouts with document's master slides

• File path issues: Always use POSIX file syntax and expand ~ to full path (e.g., /Users/username/Desktop/ )

• "Keynote got an error": Add more delay statements, especially after make new slide

If the script times out or crashes:

• First, check if Keynote is still open - it may have created partial content

• Try adding longer delays (e.g., delay 1 instead of delay 0.3 )

• For very long presentations (10+ slides), consider splitting into two separate runs

Recommended Workflow for Generating from Reports

• Read the source (reports, documents)

• Plan slide structure (identify key sections)

• Create presentation with appropriate theme

• Add slides iteratively - one at a time with content

• Save and Export - save as .key AND export to PDF

• Close Keynote - always close the app after finishing (see below)

• Send BOTH files to user via messaging platform (.key for editing, PDF for viewing)

Closing Keynote After Creation

IMPORTANT: Always close Keynote after you finish creating and saving the presentation.

If you have macos_close tool available (Visual Demo Mode), use:

macos_close(target: "keynote", delay_ms: 500)

Alternatively, use AppleScript:

osascript -e 'tell application "Keynote" to quit'

This keeps the user's desktop clean and shows a complete workflow.

File Handling

• Save .key files to ~/Desktop/ or user's preferred location

• Export PDF to the same location with same base name

• Use descriptive filenames with dates (e.g., Q1_2026_Review.key and Q1_2026_Review.pdf )

• IMPORTANT: Always send both .key and .pdf files to the user