Linking to PowerPoint
This article takes a look at a common task: presenting Excel charts in PowerPoint. By Liam Bastick, Director with SumProduct Pty Ltd.
Query
I regularly receive information in an Excel file, which I need to present in a PowerPoint document. Is there an easy way of exporting this information from Excel to PowerPoint?
Advice
I have seen this task performed in a variety of ways, using copy and paste, macros and add-ins developed by clients and / or ourselves. There is a very simple solution, however, which will allow you to link your Excel image in PowerPoint back to the source file.
It is noted that there is a PowerPoint option for a slide layout containing text and a chart object. This is not suitable for pasting an existing Excel chart and is only necessary if you wish to use Microsoft Chart for building a new graph from scratch. We will not consider this option here.
Instead, let’s consider an option that will update automatically, to allow for new categories, changes in numbers or even a change of chart type.
The first thing to do is set up your chart in Excel. An example could look something similar to the following work of fiction:
Next, the chart should be selected and the copied in the usual way (e.g. click on the chart, right-click with the mouse and select ‘Copy’).
In PowerPoint select the slide which will be used to house the graphic and then:
For this article, you get two example files to play with: the source Excel file and the resulting PowerPoint file. Given that these two files are attached separately, I need to explain how to preserve / fix the link (this can be pertinent if you have to e-mail the slides to someone else who wants to work on them too).
- Download and save both files to your computer first;
- Open PowerPoint and then open the saved PowerPoint file;
- Upon opening the file, you may get one of the following messages (PowerPoint’s security settings may need to be modified first: consult PowerPoint ‘Help’ as to how to do this if necessary):
- Click on the ‘Update Links’ button;
- If the source Excel file cannot be found, or alternatively, to ensure that the file is linking correctly, open the ‘Links dialog box’ as follows: