The default slide size currently used in powerpoint is 33.867 cm × 19.05 cm. This is not a "named" size in libreoffice, which makes it confusing when exchanging slides with powerpoint users. For instance, importing pptx will report "custom" (i.e. unrecognized) as the slide size. Another problem is that currently, in LibO "wide" (16:9 and 16:10) slide formats are obtained by trimming off some vertical space from the 4:3 format. This is the same approach that powerpoint has historically taken. In 2010 MS introduced the widescreen slide format precisely by trimming off vertical space from the 4:3 format. Specifically, from 25.4 cm × 19.05 cm (4:3) they obtained 25.4 cm × 14.29 cm (16:9). Incidentally, these are both "named" sizes in impress. Notably, later on (in 2013) MS recognized that this was a mistake and the new 33.867 cm × 19.05 cm comes precisely from that realization. The 16:9 slide format is now obtained by *adding* horizontal space from the 4:3 format, and not by removing vertical space! Having 16:9 slides that are *smaller* than the 4:3 slides makes it extra hard to reuse content originally prepared in the 4:3 format in modern slides. A final problem is that the naming of named slide sizes is extra confusing. - "Screen 4:3", "Screen 16:9" and "Screen 16:10" are the impress slide size names; - "On-Screen Show (4:3)", "On-Screen Show (16:9)", "On-Screen Show (16:10)" are the powerpoint 2010 slide formats. That "On-Screen Show" specifier is not helpful at all (does not let one recognize the powerpoint formats and suggests that the default formats are not for "shows"). May I suggest: - "Screen 4:3", "Screen 16:9" and "Screen 16:10" kept as the standard impress slide size names - "Screen 16:9 wide" and "Screen 16:10 wide" as formats derived from the standard 4:3 by making it wider - "Screen 4:3 compatible", "Screen 16:9 compatible, "Screen 16:10 compatible" as the powerpoint 2010 and google documents presentation sizes (those currently named "On-Screen Show (...)" - "Screen 16:9 compatible, wide" and "Screen 16:10 compatible, wide" as the powerpoint >= 2013 size.
"large" may also be an option instead of "wide" (e.g. "Screen 16:9 large")
I cannot confirm your observation. If I open such pptx presentation in LibreOffice, the slide size is detetcted as "Widescreen" that is width 960pt x height 540pt, or if your UI shows mmm it is 338.66mm x 190.5mm. Tested with Version: 26.2.2.2 (X86_64) Build ID: 1f77d10d6938fd34972958f64b2bcfa54f8b1ba5 CPU threads: 16; OS: Windows 11 X86_64 (build 26200); UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win Locale: de-DE (de_DE); UI: en-US Calc: threaded A different problem is, that the current names do not include the size, that is defined by this name, only sometimes the ratio. If you go via menu Slide > Slide Properties, you can see the sizes immediately. But if you use the sidebar, you get only the name. Perhaps it is possible to add the width x height as tooltip to the selected slide size? I think, this is something for UX.
Created attachment 206922 [details] Slide size in PowerPoint and Impress Microsoft 365 Apps for business - default side saved as odp and opened in Impress => looks good to me.
You are right, the size is recognized as "Widescreen". I tested with a new presentation from Powerpoint and it works. The problem was with a presentation that I received on which they probably messed the size (maybe they changed it and then tried to change it back incorrectly). The second part of the problem remains, though: the names are quite hard to associate to what they are employed for: - Screen 4:3, Screen 16:9, Screen 16:10 - On-Screen Show (4:3), On-Screen Show (16:9) - Widescreen It is a bit problematic to expect that a random user can associate: the first ones with the LibO sizes; the second group with the sizes for compatibility with (legacy) powerpoint and for google document presentations; the last one with compatibility with newer powerpoint and that it is a 16:9 format. Wouldn't it be nice to rename them to *always* indicate the form factor and to mark the "compatible" and "native" formats as such? Furthermore, a "native" slide size that is 16:9 or 16:10, derived from Screen 4:3 but larger than it (i.e., obtained from it by making it wider rather than shorter — same relationship that exists among On-Screen Show (4:3) and Widescreen) is still missing and would be quite useful to import stuff originally developed for 4:3 slides into 16:9 slides. Can these last changes still be considered from this issue or would it be better to pen a new wishlist bug just for those?
[Automated Action] NeedInfo-To-Unconfirmed
(In reply to Callegar from comment #4) > Wouldn't it be nice to rename them to *always* indicate the form factor... So you propose these changes? Screen 4:3 => Native 4:3 Screen 16:9 => Native 16:9 Screen 16:10 = > Native 16:10 On-Screen Show (4:3) => Compatible 4:3 On-Screen Show (16:9) => Compatible 16:9 What is Widescreen? The new slide sizes were added for bug 142288 and 142286 in https://gerrit.libreoffice.org/c/core/+/116374. To my understanding the label "On-Screen Show" should follow PowerPoint's names. > Can these last changes still be considered from this issue or would it be > better to pen a new wishlist bug just for those? If there is a completely different question / idea, then please file a new ticket.
The problem is not the naming itself, but the fact that the sidebar shows no information about the underlying size. For example, for 16:9 we have: Screen 16:9 is width 28.00cm x height 15.75cm Widescreen is width 33.87cm x height 19.05cm On-screen Show (16:9) is width 25.40cm x height 14.29cm You see the sizes if you use Format > Page Properties. But the sizes are not available in the sidebar. I wish, that the size is shown in the sidebar as well, perhaps as label between the line "Orientation" and "Background".
(In reply to Regina Henschel from comment #7) > I wish, that the size is shown in the sidebar as well... Like a big label and underneath the details? I'm against such thing. The user is not supposed to learn about exact values from the sidebar (or any other control in the primary UI). Those details are reserved for the properties dialogs, in general. My understanding of the issue here is a misconfiguration of the various slide dimensions and/or a inappropriate label.
The topic was on the agenda of the design meeting but did not receive further input. To summarize the previous comments, we better keep the labels and add the actual size at the sidebar via tooltip. This could be an easy hack. sd/source/ui/sidebar/SlideBackground.cxx set_tooltip_text() i18nutil/source/utility/paper.cxx
I proposed a patch here: https://gerrit.libreoffice.org/c/core/+/208492 I've got a question how to solve this enhancement: Shall the lengths be given in cm or inches (according to UI language), or shall they be in pixels (as indicated the title)? My preference is to follow Regina's comment#7 in cm/inches, but the community may prefer pixels? "Minutes from the UX/design meeting 2025-May-28" does not give indication on this choice: https://listarchives.libreoffice.org/global/design/2026/msg00043.html
(In reply to Laurent Balland from comment #10) > Shall the lengths be given in cm or inches... or... in pixels Even the OP never talks about px in comment 0 but cm. And users can configure the measurement as px anyway. So please go with the localized conversion of the internal twips.
Laurent Balland committed a patch related to this issue. It has been pushed to "master": https://git.libreoffice.org/core/commit/b9141dee2805a5551d112ecc4fcc6a7db7b41cd9 tdf#171940 Add tooltip for page size in sidebar It will be available in 27.2.0. The patch should be included in the daily builds available at https://dev-builds.libreoffice.org/daily/ in the next 24-48 hours. More information about daily builds can be found at: https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Testing_Daily_Builds Affected users are encouraged to test the fix and report feedback.