Importing

Kova can bring in content from PowerPoint files, remote URLs, and Marp decks. Each method opens the result as an editable Kova Markdown presentation — the source file is never modified.

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From PowerPoint

Convert a .pptx file into a Kova Markdown presentation. Useful for migrating an existing deck or starting from a file sent by a colleague.

How to import

1. Go to File → Import → From PowerPoint…
2. Select a .pptx file using the file picker.
3. Kova prompts you to choose a save location for the new .md file.
4. A progress modal shows which slides are being processed.
5. When conversion is complete, the new presentation opens automatically.

What is imported

PPTX element	Kova output
Centre title placeholder (ctrTitle)	# H1 heading
Title placeholder (title)	## H2 heading
Body / object placeholder (single paragraph)	Body text
Body / object placeholder (multiple paragraphs)	Bulleted list (- item)
Image (PNG, JPG, GIF, WebP)	 — image saved to assets/
Table	GitHub Flavored Markdown table
Speaker notes	Appended after the ??? delimiter

After conversion, Kova applies its normal automatic layout detection to each slide — the same rules that run when you write slides from scratch. Review the results and adjust any slides where the detected layout doesn't match your intent.

Speaker notes from the .pptx file are preserved verbatim and appended using the ??? delimiter:

## Q3 Revenue

- $2.4M (+22% YoY)

???

These are the speaker notes from the original PowerPoint slide.

After importing

1. Choose a theme — the imported file has no theme set. Open the Inspector and pick one.
2. Review layouts — layout detection does its best, but slides with complex structure may need a <!-- layout: ... --> override. See Layouts.
3. Check images — embedded images are saved as assets/filename.ext alongside your .md file. Check the assets/ folder if any images appear broken.

Unsupported elements

Element	Reason
Charts (bar, pie, line, etc.)	No equivalent Kova syntax — consider replacing with a Mermaid diagram
SmartArt	Complex vector layout has no Markdown representation
WMF / EMF images	Legacy Windows metafile format; re-export as PNG in PowerPoint first
Animations and transitions	Kova does not support slide animations
Embedded videos	Use !youtube[Title](url) to link a video instead

When elements are skipped, Kova lists them in the results step of the import modal (slide number and element type). The rest of the slide is imported normally.

Charts → Mermaid

If you have a bar or pie chart in your PowerPoint, you can often reproduce it as a Mermaid diagram in Kova. See the Mermaid section in Markdown & Syntax for supported chart types.

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From URL

Fetch any Markdown file from the web directly into Kova. GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket links are rewritten to their raw equivalents automatically — no need to copy the raw URL yourself.

How to import

1. Go to File → Import → From URL…
2. Paste a link to a Markdown file and press Import (or Enter).
3. If Kova rewrites the URL to its raw form, the resolved address is shown below the input so you can verify it.
4. The file loads as an unsaved document — save it when you're ready.

Supported URL formats

Host	Input URL	Fetched as
GitHub	github.com/user/repo/blob/branch/file.md	raw.githubusercontent.com/…
GitLab	gitlab.com/user/repo/-/blob/branch/file.md	gitlab.com/…/-/raw/…
Bitbucket	bitbucket.org/user/repo/src/branch/file.md	bitbucket.org/…/raw/…
Any other	Fetched as-is	—

The fetch runs inside the Kova process (via reqwest) so the URL must be publicly accessible — private repos behind authentication are not supported.

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From Marp

Convert a Marp presentation into editable Kova Markdown. Kova maps the most common Marp constructs onto its own layout and theme system. The source file is not modified.

How to import

Option 1 — Auto-detect: Open a .md file that contains marp: true in its frontmatter. Kova detects the flag and shows a banner offering to convert it.

Option 2 — Menu: Go to File → Import → From Marp… and select a .md file.

In both cases the result opens as an untitled buffer. Save it to a new location when you're ready.

What is mapped

Marp construct	Kova output
	<!-- layout:full-bleed --> + 
 / 	<!-- layout:split --> + 
<!-- _class: lead -->	<!-- layout:title -->
size: 4:3 / size: 16:9	aspect_ratio: "4:3" / aspect_ratio: "16:9"
paginate: true	footer: { show_slide_number: true }
footer: "My footer"	footer: { show: true, text: "My footer" }
title:, author:, date: (and other simple scalars)	Passed through verbatim
<!-- comment --> (not a Marp directive)	Converted to a ??? speaker note

What is dropped

Some Marp features have no direct Kova equivalent. Kova logs each dropped item as an inline comment (<!-- marp: dropped … -->) and shows a count in a banner after import.

Dropped	Why
Per-slide backgroundColor / color	Kova's theme system applies globally, not per-slide
![bg] sizing keywords (left:40%, w:300, etc.)	Images are included but sizing is stripped
Multiple ![bg] on one slide	Only the first background image is used
theme:	Marp themes have no Kova equivalent — choose a Kova theme after import
header:	No header element in Kova
style: (embedded CSS)	Kova does not accept raw CSS
backgroundColor / backgroundImage (global)	Use a Kova theme or theme_overrides instead
_class: values other than lead	Only lead maps to a layout

After importing

1. Choose a theme — Marp theme information is dropped. Open the Inspector and pick a Kova theme.
2. Review layouts — Check slides that used ![bg] or _class directives; adjust any <!-- layout: … --> overrides as needed. See Layouts.
3. Search for drop comments — Search for marp: dropped in the editor to find every location where something was simplified, and decide whether you need to recreate it manually.
4. Relative images — If the source file used relative image paths, keep the imported file in the same directory as the original images, or update the paths after saving.

Speaker notes from comments

Marp authors sometimes use <!-- … --> HTML comments for presenter notes. Kova converts any comment that isn't a Marp directive into a ??? note, so your notes should carry over automatically.