Reading UTF-8 texts in PowerPoint via VBA, for export to another software

Question

I want to read all text in a PowerPoint file using VBA, and write them to external file (or some other way) to use in another Software.

I wrote this code:

Sub ReadFileText()
    On Error Resume Next
    Dim shp As Shape
    
    For Each sld In ActivePresentation.Slides
        For Each shp In sld.Shapes
             If shp.TextFrame.HasText Then
                MsgBox shp.TextFrame.TextRange.Text
                ' if text was read successfully, I can save it to a text or json file.
             End If
        Next shp
    Next sld
End Sub

Some shapes includes non-ASCII (UTF-8) characters in text. VBA returns them as "?" character!

How can I read shape text as UTF-8 string?

Answer 1

PowerPoint/VBA can work internally with UTF-8 but as Tim mentions, can't display UTF-8 text in message boxes/debug window.

But when I add some Japanese text to a slide, then do

Activewindow.Selection.ShapeRange(1).TextFrame.TextRange.Copy

I can then paste into a notepad UTF-8 file and get the correct text.

What you get may vary depending on what you DO with the copied text.