How to fix "Could not find shape for Powerpoint content Error: pandoc document conversion failed with error 63" Error

Question

I am trying to render an R markdown slideshow as a Powerpoint with a corporate template.

I work on AWS EC2, without PowerPoint, so I have to upload the template to S3, download it on the EC2, and then try to use it. I have set up the slide sequence according to the documentation I've seen before (title, title and content, section header, two content), so that shouldn't be the issue. I am not sure if I need to put my file in a different location, but when I explicitly state the path, it is not recognized either.

title: "myreport"
author: "me"
date: "today"
output: 
  powerpoint_presentation:
    reference_doc: corporate_template.potx
---

I would expect a normal Powerpoint presentation to be created, but instead I get the error in the title.

Answer 1

I have had this same problem, and the following helped me solve:

1. Go into View -> Slide Master to make sure the slides in the master are the format you expect (one time I thought I made the changes, but they showed up on the Home menu and not the Slide Master)

2. Under the Home menu, click the Dropdown under Layout and make sure AT THE LEAST that you see these four slide types:

   • Title
   • Section Header
   • Title and Content
   • Two Content

When all of these are taken care of, my slides knit fine from the Rmd without the "Could not find shape" error. I think "shape" refers to the four slide types that are needed.