1

I need to open Keynote files programmatically via Node.js. using

open -a Keynote -W "path/to/file.key"

everything works well. But there are two tasks I cannot solve:

  1. the presentation needs to start directly so no further user interaction is necessary.

As I have no control over the presentation itself, I cannot alter the files to start in presentation mode. Somehow I have to tell Keynote. In Powerpoint this is possible via the /s Argument (powerpoint.exe /s "path/to/presentation.pptx" will go directly in presentation mode). Does something similar exist for Keynote?

  1. After the last slide I need to quit Keynote

Is there any possibility to tell Keynote to quit after the last slide? My Application needs to know when the presentation is finished and I can track when the program closes, but as default it only closes the presentation, not Keynote itself.

3 Answers 3

2

You could use an AppleScript to do this and run it with osascript...

osascript << EOF
if running of application "Keynote" is true then
    tell application "Keynote"
        activate
        try
            if playing is false then start the front document
        end try
    end tell
end if
EOF
0

In the Keynote presentation, from the Document inspector, enable ‘Automatically play upon open’. This is a per-document setting that will be saved to the document, similar to a PowerPoint ppsx extension.


Unfortunately there is no way to quit Keynote automatically.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/6847822

0

As unknowndomain pointed out - AppleScript is the way to go. To give me feedback on when the presentation is finished I had to change the script but here is what works for me:

on run argv  //I give the filename as parameter
    tell application "Keynote"
        activate

        open item 1 of argv
        start the front document

    end tell

    tell application "Keynote"
        repeat while playing  //this loop continues as long as the presentation is running
            delay 1
        end repeat
    end tell
    quit application "Keynote"  //as the presentation ends it quits Keynote

end run

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