I am scripting a tool that creates a copy from Google Slide file (a template) and replaces some data in the Slides with data from a Spreadsheet. Then it adds the link to the file in the same spreadsheet.

This is the original code

I added a step to export the Slide as a PDF and take the PDF links.

      // Export the file as PDF
      var blob = DriveApp.getFileById(slidesId).getBlob();
      var pdfile = DriveApp.createFile(blob)
      var pdfId = pdfile.getId();
   
      // Create the Google Slides' URL using its Id.
      var slidesUrl = `https://drive.google.com/file/d/${pdfId}/view`;

The full code I’m using:

function mailMergeSlidesFromSheets() {
  // Load data from the spreadsheet
  var dataRange = SpreadsheetApp.getActive().getDataRange();
  var sheetContents = dataRange.getValues();

  // Save the header in a variable called header
  var header = sheetContents.shift();

  // Create an array to save the data to be written back to the sheet.
  // We'll use this array to save links to Google Slides.
  var updatedContents = [];

  // Add the header to the array that will be written back
  // to the sheet.
  updatedContents.push(header);

  // For each row, see if the 4th column is empty.
  // If it is empty, it means that a slide deck hasn't been
  // created yet.
  sheetContents.forEach(function(row) {
    if(row[3] === "") {
      // Create a Google Slides presentation using
      // information from the row.
      var slides = createSlidesFromRow(row);
      var slidesId = slides.getId();

      // Export the file as PDF
      var blob = DriveApp.getFileById(slidesId).getBlob();
      var pdfile = DriveApp.createFile(blob)
      var pdfId = pdfile.getId();
   
      // Create the Google Slides' URL using its Id.
      var slidesUrl = `https://drive.google.com/file/d/${pdfId}/view`;

      // Add this URL to the 4th column of the row and add this row
      // to the updatedContents array to be written back to the sheet.
      row[3] = slidesUrl;
      updatedContents.push(row);
    }
  });

  // Write the updated data back to the Google Sheets spreadsheet.
  dataRange.setValues(updatedContents);

}

function createSlidesFromRow(row) {
 // Create a copy of the Slides template
 var deck = createCopyOfSlidesTemplate();

 // Rename the deck using the firstname and lastname of the student
 deck.setName(row[2]);

 // Replace template variables using the student's information.
 deck.replaceAllText("{{fullname}}", row[0]);
 deck.replaceAllText("{{school}}", row[1]);

 return deck;
}

function createCopyOfSlidesTemplate() {
 //
 var TEMPLATE_ID = "<SLIDES_ID>";

 // Create a copy of the file using DriveApp
 var copy = DriveApp.getFileById(TEMPLATE_ID).makeCopy();

 // Load the copy using the SlidesApp.
 var slides = SlidesApp.openById(copy.getId());

 return slides;
}

function onOpen() {
 // Create a custom menu to make it easy to run the Mail Merge
 // script from the sheet.
 SpreadsheetApp.getUi().createMenu("⚙️ Admin")
   .addItem("Create Slides", "mailMergeSlidesFromSheets")
   .addToUi();
}

The script executes completely and takes the correct link to the PDF file, which is also renamed correctly, however, the text replacements inside the slide are not showing in the PDF file:

 // Replace template variables using the student's information.
 deck.replaceAllText("{{fullname}}", row[0]);
 deck.replaceAllText("{{school}}", row[1]);

The resulting PDF outputs has “{{fullname}}” and “{{school}}” instead of the students name.
But the file has been renamed correctly.

What’s happening here? How to fix it?

Thank you very much!

P.S. I want the PDF file to show the actual data from the spreadsheet, instead of {{fullname}} or {{school}} which are just placeholders in the Slide template for the script to replace them with the actual data.