Convert Excel charts to Power Point

[RompStar]

I have a whole bunch of Excel Charts, my boss wants me to convert them to Powerpoint, because it looks better in that for presentation purposes and I know nothing about power point, I can figure things out by clicking on it, but that's about it...

Is there a tool that will convert a Excel chart to Powerpoint automatically ?

Or is that wishful thinking.

 

[cass108]

I'm sort of late getting into this discussion, but here's how I have linked Excel charts in Powerpoint:

- In a Powerpoint page, Insert/Object/Microsoft Excel Chart
- Hit Delete once to get rid of the preformatted chart there
- Switch to Excel, Copy your chart
- Back to Powerpoint and Paste into the Powerpoint chart window

You have all the charting functions of Excel in the Powerpoint file. When the Excel data is updated, have the file open along with the Powerpoint file. Just double click on the Powerpoint chart and it will refresh with the new data.

Hope this helps!

 

[RompStar]

ok, cool, let me try it out..

thanks

 

[RompStar]

so let me get this straight..

I now fully understand what my boss wants me to do, maybe I wans't clear at first :- ) because this chatting business was all new to me.

Basically, there is an Excel file on a network, that Excel file has the data and charts... My Boss wants me to convert the charts to PowerPoint, because PowerPoint has more custom options and you can setup your charts more fancier in presentations with management.

So the charts, need to be powerpoint charts, linked to the excel data...

Right now in the PowerPoint document, the charts are Excel charts that were cut and pasted... But I need them to be PowerPoint Charts linked to the Excel source data.

So your sugestions would make the charts power point or still in Excel format ?

 

[shades]

If you select a chart in Excel, the following code will place a linked chart in Excel (as picture, not as Excel file). To update the link, you can right-click the picture in PPT, and choose Update Link. If you have several, go to Edit > Links > and update all of them at once. Is this what you need?

Sub ChartToPPTLink()
' Set a VBE reference to Microsoft PowerPoint 10.0 Object Library for Office 2002,

Dim PPApp As PowerPoint.Application
Dim PPPres As PowerPoint.Presentation
Dim PPSlide As PowerPoint.Slide

' Make sure a chart is selected
If ActiveChart Is Nothing Then
    MsgBox "Please select a chart and try again.", vbExclamation, _
        "No Chart Selected"
Else
    Set PPApp = GetObject(, "Powerpoint.Application")
    ' Reference active presentation
    Set PPPres = PPApp.ActivePresentation
    PPApp.ActiveWindow.ViewType = ppViewSlide
    ' Reference active slide
    Set PPSlide = PPPres.Slides _
        (PPApp.ActiveWindow.Selection.SlideRange.SlideIndex)
    
    ' Copy chart as a picture
    ActiveChart.ChartArea.Copy

    ' Paste chart link
    PPSlide.Shapes.PasteSpecial(Link:=True).Select

    ' Clean up
    Set PPSlide = Nothing
    Set PPPres = Nothing
    Set PPApp = Nothing
End If

End Sub

 

[shades]

By linkiing as a picture rather than Excel file you greatly reduce the size of the PPT file. Every time you paste a chart or range from Excel, it pastes an entire copy of the Excel file. Thus, a 1 MB Excel file pasted 10 times into PPT gives a 10 MB file.

 

[RompStar]

so in Excel I put that VB code in, the Excel that has the charts and data, right ?

then I select the chart and press play in excel, that will transfer the charts into powerpoint ? is that what you are saying ?

 

[RompStar]

pasting it as picture I don't think will work, because the managers want to able to format the chart with the better charting options that come with powerpoint...

unless, the picture can be formatted or something..

 

[shades]

so in Excel I put that VB code in, the Excel that has the charts and data, right ?

then I select the chart and press play in excel, that will transfer the charts into powerpoint ? is that what you are saying ?

Yep. By the time you run the macro the linked picture is already in PTT.

pasting it as picture I don't think will work, because the managers want to able to format the chart with the better charting options that come with powerpoint...

unless, the picture can be formatted or something..

From my work with the two programs I think Excel has better chart capabilities than PPT (more control, and better VBA support for charts in Excel). And since it is linked, you can make the changes in Excel and update links in PPT. You get the best of both worlds.

 

[RompStar]

anyways, I ended up in Power Point deleting the excel charts, inserting a ppt chart and then I copied my data ranges and pasted them into PPT as link, had to do a lot of manual formatting and chat type and options, but this was the surest way that I knew it would be done right and I learned so many things about charts it's not even funny :- )

I spent all day converting it by hand, sometimes that's the best way to learn..

Thanks for all the help.

 

[shades]

anyways, I ended up in Power Point deleting the excel charts, inserting a ppt chart and then I copied my data ranges and pasted them into PPT as link, had to do a lot of manual formatting and chat type and options, but this was the surest way that I knew it would be done right and I learned so many things about charts it's not even funny :- )

I spent all day converting it by hand, sometimes that's the best way to learn..

Thanks for all the help.

When I first started I did everything manually. One report took me 4 weeks to produce (78 geographic areas, etc.). Gradually I saw the power of Excel and charts, and then especially VBA. Now that same project I haven't touched a chart in over a year on any of them. The entire process takes less than 4 hours.

manual work defeats the purpose of computers (this isn't a criticism of you, just an observation of everyone, inclduing myself).

That is why I have tried to learn more about charts, Excel VBA, and the combination of MS Access and Excel. I adapted the above code and now what used to takes hours, takes one click of a button in Excel. Now instead of one quarterly report, I have many monthly reports as well, and the only thing I do in PPT is update links. Everything is changed in Excel. And the rest is automatic.