Excel Charts in Powerpoint display incorrectly

  • Thread starter Thread starter Brendan Murphy
  • Start date Start date
B

Brendan Murphy

I have 2 problems using Excel charts in powerpoint.

1 I cut and paste the the Excel chart using paste special and paste link.
This is to facilitate updating the powerpoint as data in the spreadsheet
changes. I then size and position the chart on the slide. Later when the
data changes, and I use Edit, Links, Update Now, the slide is
frequently, usually but not always, distorted with the axis captions
unreadable, and the slide not correctly sized. If I select Edit Links
Open, Excel is launched and the chart is displayed in a reduced size. By
maximising the chart in Excel, returning to powerpoint and selecting Edit,
Links, Update now, the chart is corrected. As one-off occurence, it's no
big deal, but I have 30 or 40 of these I find it tedious. Has anyone any
idea what the cause of this problem is, and how I can correct it.

2 In Office 2003, Some Excel column charts display incorrectly. In
Excel the columns are filled in with colour, but in Powerpoint, only the
borders of the columns are shown in the main slide. The slide view down the
left shows the columns correctly filled in, and when my colleagues view
these slides in Office 97, they show correctly as in Excel.

R
egards, Brendan Murphy
 
Echo S

Each chart is on a new sheet. What difference does this make?

Regards, Brendan

Echo S said:
For #1, are the charts in their own chart sheet, or are they on the worksheet along with the data?

For #2, I'd suggest turning down your hardware acceleration. (You'd be
Click to expand...
amazed at how many display issues that resolves.) Instrux at
http://www.rdpslides.com/pptfaq/FAQ00129.htm
--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
presenter, PPT Live '04
Oct 10-13, San Diego http://www.powerpointlive.com



Brendan Murphy said:
I have 2 problems using Excel charts in powerpoint.

1 I cut and paste the the Excel chart using paste special and paste link.
This is to facilitate updating the powerpoint as data in the spreadsheet
changes. I then size and position the chart on the slide. Later when the
data changes, and I use Edit, Links, Update Now, the slide is
frequently, usually but not always, distorted with the axis captions
unreadable, and the slide not correctly sized. If I select Edit Links
Open, Excel is launched and the chart is displayed in a reduced size. By
maximising the chart in Excel, returning to powerpoint and selecting Edit,
Links, Update now, the chart is corrected. As one-off occurence, it's no
big deal, but I have 30 or 40 of these I find it tedious. Has anyone any
idea what the cause of this problem is, and how I can correct it.

2 In Office 2003, Some Excel column charts display incorrectly. In
Excel the columns are filled in with colour, but in Powerpoint, only the
borders of the columns are shown in the main slide. The slide view down the
left shows the columns correctly filled in, and when my colleagues view
these slides in Office 97, they show correctly as in Excel.

R
egards, Brendan Murphy
Click to expand...
Click to expand...
 
Brenden,
I see Kathy and Echo have answered some of your issues.
Let me add to that, if I can. It is anecdotal evidence and not totally
confirmed with good testing. But see if it might apply to you.

Linked charts from XL to PPT have a funny tendency to reformat
themselves if the ZoomSize of the XL worksheet has changed, hence why
we usually prefer to use ChartSheets rather than charts on worksheets.

Additionally, charts on worksheets, anecdotally in XL 97 and not
tested since, which were not "visibile" to the OLE update method
(means too many charts per worksheet) would resize incorrectly or
truncate if the top left corner of the chart was not visible during
the sheet update (nutty as that might sound).

I used to recommend using custom sized charts on chart sheets to avoid
all these problem but have avoided all that by using custom sized
charts on either chart sheets or a single worksheet and inserting that
sheet by copying it to a new workbook and copying the color palette
from the old workbook (I use custom palettes) and then inserting that
workbook into the PPT file.

Let us know if one of us hasn't hit on a solution. We can. Just need
more info.

Brian Reilly, PowerPoint MVP
 
Brian, Kathy, Echo

Thanks for your help. I've been away for a few days, and I can't see Kathy
post any more. just Echo's and Brian's posts!

Sorry if I misled you. the charts are on individual chart sheets. When I
created them by selecting the range and Insert, Chart to invoke the wizard,
then at the final stage I checked Insert on new sheet. I always then work
with everything maximised - Excel maximised in Windows, chart sheet
maximised in Excel.

I have tried reducing the hardware acceleration. It had no effect. The
default printer is a BW laser. I'll try installing a color printer as Kathy
suggested, but may not be able to do that for a few days.

Thanks all of you.
 
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