To provide a controlling method for a heat pressing apparatus where the reduction of molding time and the increase of the precision in molding are possible.

In the controlling method for a heat pressing apparatus 1 where a molding material 13 is arranged between the opposite faces of a fixed board 4 and a movable board 7, the molding material 13 is subjected to binding/shaping-molding via shaping members 6, and a driving means 2 of driving the movable plate 7 by a closed loop control is provided, a controller 3 detects the contacting of the molding material 13 with shaping members 6 is detected by the arrival of the load force in the driving means 2 at a prescribed value, memorizes the distance between the movable board 7 and the fixed board 4 at that time as a contact position, further, starts the binding, and, in the shaping-molding on and after that, the movable board 7 is made to approach the fixed board 4 to an objective position calculated by adding a first prescribed distance to the above contact position at a high speed, it is further made to approach from the above objective position at low speed, the contacting of the molding material 13 with the shaping members 6 is detected by the arrival of the load force of the driving means 2 at a prescribed value, the distance between the movable board 7 and the fixed board 4 is renewed and stored as a contact position, and the binding is started.