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Is there a simple way to change / replace the automatically generated Template Miniature with a different image.

Jesper Storm
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2 Answers2

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I have checked this out for Excel 2016 but the process is similar.

First, the thumbnail is generated and part of the file. There is no official process. A description for brave Office pros is shown below.

You can do this:

First, close Excel!

  1. Get to the location of your template
  2. Make a copy
  3. Rename the file extension to .zip
  4. Unzip the file into a new folder using the Windows Zip utility
  5. Search the tree of files for a file called thumbnail.wmf
  6. Open PowerPoint and create an empty presentation
  7. Use the function "Insert an Image" and add the thumbnail.wmf to the slide
  8. Remove everything else from the slide
  9. Try to ungroup - it fails with a message asking to convert to a drawing object

From here you have two options. Either convert, ungroup, change and proceed or throw away and create a new image from scratch.

  1. Work on image and group your image (the old or a new one), then
  2. Right click on the grouped image and click "Save as picture"
  3. Choose the filetype "wmf" and name it the same as before and overwrite the existing thumbnail.wmf
  4. Go INTO the folder using Windows Explorer of unpacked files, hit Ctrl-A (Select All)
  5. Right click and say "Send to" --> "Compressed (zipped) folder". Give it a new name.
  6. Hit F2 to rename the file
  7. Remove the file extension .zip

Now, open Excel!

Hit "New", "Personal" and you see your template with your custom image in full width and height. Repeat steps 10 to 16 until you're satisfied.

Drawbacks: Once you edit your file in excel and save as template with thumbnails option (advanced properties) switched on, Excel will overwrite your custom wmf-file. You have to repeat the steps "Unpack -> Replace File -> Pack" every time.

I'll post an update once I found a better solution.

Joerg Krause
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0

Here is an automation of the process that might help with understanding the process described in the answer.

Python 3 code snippet

import zipfile
import shutil

exfilename = 'MYTEMPLATE.xltm'
a_path='C:\\TEMP'
th_path='mythumbnail.wmf'

with zipfile.ZipFile (exfilename, 'r') as zf:

    #Extract to temporary folder
    zf.extractall(a_path)

    #replace the thumbnail
    shutil.copyfile(th_path,a_path+'\\docProps\\thumbnail.wmf')

    #remake the zip as a new file
    shutil.make_archive('TEMP_ARCHIVE','zip',a_path)

    #rename back to original, replacing original
    shutil.move('TEMP_ARCHIVE.zip',exfilename)

    #clean-up temporary files
    shutil.rmtree(a_path)
SweetpeaHub
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  • There may be a good answer in here somewhere, but currently it is unclear how this answers the question. You can [edit] the answer and pare things down to explanation, steps to reproduce, and clarifying statements. –  Oct 04 '18 at 21:13
  • Thanks for prompting me to do a better job with my answer. Please check out my revised answer. – SweetpeaHub Oct 08 '18 at 18:39
  • It looks like the info provided is the same as another answer, and it is still unclear what the blob of Python does. Is this some sort of automation of the previous steps? If this is a continuation of a previous answer, you can mention the other answer as a link and then explain that you have some Python to automate this (even though this was not specifically mentioned in the Question.) –  Oct 10 '18 at 19:36
  • Ok so this is my first post on stack overflow. I was not sure whether to edit the original answer or to put together my take on it especially since the question was for a "simple" way. That is kind of broad but automation falls under making it simpler. I have a full GUI python app to do this but I hesitated to post that much code with all the widgets, etc. Since it is not necessarily a coding question would it make more sense to find another place to post my code and then just add a link to it? – SweetpeaHub Oct 11 '18 at 20:49
  • This is fine the way it is. Unfortunately, SO is not a good place to put a reference to a homegrown utility, no matter how useful it may be. A link in your answer (or as a comment to the other answer) to your GitHub or whatever would be ok, but in the manner of all URLs it would be dead in an internet moment. So this, as it stands, is a fine answer. –  Oct 11 '18 at 21:02