Adding Excel Charts in PowerPoint Slides

Written by:  • Edited by: Bill Fulks
Updated Jun 3, 2010
• Related Guides: Microsoft | Excel Chart | Excel

Having trouble inserting your Excel chart to a PowerPoint slide? In this article, we’ll guide you through the process step-by-step and give some tips to help make sure that the object doesn’t get distorted during the move.

Excel Charts in PowerPoint

One of the biggest problems that people have when adding a Microsoft Excel 2007 chart to a PowerPoint slide is that the chart will become distorted during the process. The best way to overcome this is to make sure that the chart is properly formatted in Excel before you attempt to copy and paste it into PowerPoint. In this guide, we’ll walk through the steps, from start to finish, for inserting an Excel chart into a blank PowerPoint slide.

How to Copy a Chart to PowerPoint

Step 1: Open both the Excel file containing the chart and the PowerPoint presentation to which you want to add the chart.

Step 2: Make sure that your Excel chart has been moved to its own worksheet and is the only object in that worksheet. If it’s not, refer to Part 2 of this series for instructions on how to move a chart in Excel. (Click the image for a larger view.)

Chart in New Worksheet
click to enlarge

Before continuing, make any format or design changes to the chart while still in Excel.

Step 3: Select the chart in Excel and then open the Home tab on the Excel ribbon. Click on the Copy icon in the Clipboard section. Alternatively, after selecting the chart, you can use the CTRL + C keyboard shortcut to copy the object.

Copy Excel Chart
click to enlarge

Step 4: Switch over to PowerPoint, and navigate to the slide where you wish to insert the chart. If you haven’t created the slide yet, do that now.

Step 5: Open the Home tab on the PowerPoint ribbon. Click on the down arrow underneath Paste in the Clipboard section of the ribbon. Select Paste Special.

Paste in PowerPoint
click to enlarge

Step 6: In the Paste Special window that appears, make sure the radio button next to Paste is filled in, and then select the option to paste as a Microsoft Office Graphic Object.

Paste Special
click to enlarge

Step 7: Click OK when finished, and the chart will now appear on the PowerPoint slide as shown in the screenshot below.

Chart in PowerPoint
click to enlarge

Tip: If you do decide that you want to modify the chart further after placing it in a PowerPoint slide, select the chart and the Design, Layout, and Format tools will appear under Chart Tools on the PowerPoint ribbon. You can then make design changes just as you would for any other chart.

Be sure to check out the other articles on Bright Hub's Windows Channel for more Excel tips and PowerPoint tutorials.


Comments

Showing all 8 comments
 
ranj Aug 7, 2011 12:04 AM
RE: Adding Excel Charts in PowerPoint Slides
i have tried all of the above options and none of them seem to actually give me a chart in ppt.. only when i paste it as a static picture on the slide then i get to see the chart - otherwise it remains invisible!!!
Michele McDonough Mar 29, 2011 4:51 PM
Linked charts
I think I've managed to duplicate the problem -- it looks like an issue that happens with particularly large charts, or ones with non-standard dimensions. PowerPoint tries to resize to fit on the page and makes a muck of everything in the process. I tried several things, and the only thing that really worked was what I described in the article -- pasting an unlinked version of the chart. Alternatively, you could try moving the chart to the same worksheet as the data in Excel, scaling down the size and then pasting the linked chart -- but that gives mixed results, sometimes just as distorted. I'm sorry that I couldn't be of more help, but I'm not sure there's a way to combat this problem with pasting large linked objects with Office 2007 or 2010.
David Mar 29, 2011 3:52 PM
Linked charts
I past the linked charts directly to the PPT slide, not in a text box.
Michele McDonough Mar 29, 2011 3:35 PM
Linked charts
Hi David - I am trying to recreate, but I have Office 2010 now so please bear with me. :) The pasting options are a little different in Excel 2010 (much better, btw). I am wondering if it could be a text box issue. The slide that you are adding the chart to -- does it have any pre-formatted text boxes on the page? Again, sorry for all the questions, just trying to get an idea of what you are seeing to try to duplicate the issue! Thanks, Michele
David Mar 29, 2011 1:24 PM
What about when the chart is linked?
Yes. The chart has it's own worksheet. I copy the chart, go to PPT, select paste - Paste Special - Paste link - Microsoft office excel chart object.
I have done it a million times in office 2003 but now have office 2007 and my charts get distorted.
Thanks for trying to help btw :)
Michele McDonough Mar 29, 2011 1:17 PM
Linked charts
Hi David - Does this happen even when the chart is moved to its own worksheet in Excel before pasting to PowerPoint?
David Mar 29, 2011 11:42 AM
what about when the chart is linked?
my charts get distorted when I have the charts pasted and linked in powerpoint. Do you know a fix for that?
Vanessa Aug 29, 2010 11:21 PM
THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU!
My sister was going crazy trying to figure this out and you just saved her life and her college career!!! thanks a millions!
 
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