PP 2003: Chart from Excel File

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I prepared a chart from an Excel file and brought the chart into Powerpoint
(so I guess it is now linked). I need to move the location of the Excel
spreadsheet but not the location of the Powerpoint chart. Will that mess up
the editing of the chart function should I need to use it in the future?
 
Oceanmist said:
I prepared a chart from an Excel file and brought the chart into Powerpoint
(so I guess it is now linked).
Click to expand...

That depends on how you brought it into PowerPoint.

If you chose Edit, Paste Special and specifically chose the LINK option, then
it's linked. Otherwise it's embedded.

To check, choose Edit, Links .... if Links is grayed out, your charts are
embedded. Now ...
I need to move the location of the Excel
spreadsheet but not the location of the Powerpoint chart. Will that mess up
the editing of the chart function should I need to use it in the future?
Click to expand...

If the charts are embedded, there's no problem; the whole spreadsheet's inside
your PPT file where PPT can find it (of course this also means that all of your
data and everything else inside the original spreadsheet will be available to
anyone you give the PPT file to. Be careful of that one)

If the charts are linked, try this first:

Copy the PPT and XLS files to another computer. Put them together in the same
folder. See if it all works when you open the file there. (Generally if PPT
can't find linked XL files where the link points, it'll also look for them in
the same folder as the PPT, so if you just keep them together you'll be ok).

If that doesnt' work, get back with us. There are ways to edit the link to
point to its new location.
 
Steve -

I have created a PowerPoint graph with a linked (not embedded) Excel file.
I have provided both files to my client and when she attempts to update the
PowerPoint graph with the revised Excel data, she gets a message that "The
linked file wasn't available or can't be found." I think I would prefer that
the Excel file be embedded, but can this be done at this point without having
to redo this PowerPoint graphic containing 2 bar graph elements linked to the
one Excel file and with significant graphic enhancements and is integrated
into an overlay of various autoshape graphics? Alternatively, I would be
interested in how to make the link to the Excel file relative rather than
absolute so that as long as the Excel file is in the folder as the PowerPoint
file, there will be no break in the link. Thanks.
 
Steve -

I have created a PowerPoint graph with a linked (not embedded) Excel file.
I have provided both files to my client and when she attempts to update the
PowerPoint graph with the revised Excel data, she gets a message that "The
linked file wasn't available or can't be found." I think I would prefer that
the Excel file be embedded, but can this be done at this point without having
to redo this PowerPoint graphic containing 2 bar graph elements linked to the
one Excel file and with significant graphic enhancements and is integrated
into an overlay of various autoshape graphics? Alternatively, I would be
interested in how to make the link to the Excel file relative rather than
absolute so that as long as the Excel file is in the folder as the PowerPoint
file, there will be no break in the link.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, OLE links can't be made relative, but has your client tried putting
the PPT and the XLS file in the same folder? That should enable PPT to locate it.
 
That's what's so frustrating. I assured her at the beginning that as long as
she kept the two files in the same folder everything would be fine. When she
called to report that the Excel file couldn't be found, I tried walking her
through it over the phone, but still to no avail. Then I did a test of the
two files on another computer so I could see what was happening first hand
and I had the same experience as my client. And I have since learned that if
I move the Excel file into a subfolder from the PowerPoint file on the
original computer and attempt to update the PowerPoint graph element, it
finds the Excel file, but updates to the corresponding cells of the first
worksheet instead of the second or third worksheet in which view the Excel
file was last saved.
 
That's what's so frustrating. I assured her at the beginning that as long as
she kept the two files in the same folder everything would be fine. When she
called to report that the Excel file couldn't be found, I tried walking her
through it over the phone, but still to no avail. Then I did a test of the
two files on another computer so I could see what was happening first hand
and I had the same experience as my client. And I have since learned that if
I move the Excel file into a subfolder from the PowerPoint file on the
original computer and attempt to update the PowerPoint graph element, it
finds the Excel file, but updates to the corresponding cells of the first
worksheet instead of the second or third worksheet in which view the Excel
file was last saved.
Click to expand...

There's a not-very-well-documented feature in recent Windows versions that's supposed
to keep track of links and repair them when the linked files move. I believe that his
only applies to OLE links, but it could account for why PPT's able to locate your Excel
file even after you move it.

For linked data, the view the Excel file's saved in will have no effect. The link
points to a specific range of cells in a specific sheet in the workbook. To change
that you'd have to relink the data or edit the link.

All of which is interesting but none of which helps solve your immediate problem,
right? OK, when you open the files on another computer what does the link point to
when you choose Edit, Links?
 
when you open the files on another computer what does the link
point to when you choose Edit, Links?
Click to expand...

There are two links listed, one for each of the two graph elements in the
PowerPoint slide, which are linked to the same file. Both show an absolute
link from my C: drive to the .xls filename. The PowerPoint file had been
saved with “manual updating†selected so as not to get the update message
upon opening the file. Entries in the “Type†column for both are
“Worksheetâ€, but the “Update†column lists one as “Unavailable†while the
other is “Manualâ€.

Regarding the worksheet view when saving, I found that saving in a specific
worksheet view makes a difference when updating (at least from my computer).
Of the two graph elements in the PowerPoint slide, one is linked to worksheet
#2 and the other to worksheet #3 in the same .xls file. If the .xls file is
saved in the worksheet #3 view, and the PowerPoint graph element linked to
worksheet #2 is subsequently updated, that graph element is replaced with the
information in worksheet #3 instead—or whatever worksheet was being viewed at
the time the .xls file was saved.

If interested, the files in question are available for download from the
following URL: http://www.doug-morgan.com/tmp531/ . The first page of the
2-page PowerPoint file states the instructions for updating the graph
elements of slide 2. Thanks.
 
Thanks for making the files available, Doug.

The links in it were apparently created via Insert, Object, Link.
That would account for why you get varying results depending on what state the XLS was
last saved in.

Suggestion: Instead, open the XLS, choose the chart you want to link to and Edit, COpy
it. Then switch to PPT and Edit, Paste Special and choose Link. That will give you a
link that points to the specific content in the XLS that you want rather than luck 'o
the draw.

And apparently at some point, linking to spreadsheets in PPT has gone bust.
It used to be so easy. Sigh. But I checked in 2003 and found that of your two links,
one updates itself as long as it's in the same folder as the PPT, but the other doesn't.

I'm wondering whether this would work better with shorter paths and/or paths w/o the
unusual punctuation. For all Windows lets you do stuff like c:\my files with (reallly
really weird)\path names that go on for ever\and ever.and\ever\and\OH!Here's the
file!.xls, it doesn't always WORK. ;-)
 
Steve -

I REALLY appreciate your assistance. I redid the slide based on your "paste
special -> Link" and "shortened path" suggestions and that, hopefully, has
done the trick. Tests on a different computer worked pretty well, although
the first folder into which I placed the files seemed break the link, but
when I moved them into another folder, it worked. Then I found I could move
the files back to the original folder without breaking the link. I provided
my client with a new version to evaluate this evening. If it works, it will
be much easier to update than the previous version. I'll keep you posted on
the results of the evaluation. Thanks again.

- Doug


:
 
Steve -

I REALLY appreciate your assistance.
Click to expand...

I'm happy to help out. This stuff is frustrating but interesting.
I redid the slide based on your "paste
special -> Link" and "shortened path" suggestions and that, hopefully, has
done the trick. Tests on a different computer worked pretty well, although
the first folder into which I placed the files seemed break the link, but
when I moved them into another folder, it worked.
Click to expand...

What can you tell us about the two folders? Same computer but they worked on one but not
the other? What Windows version and what are the full paths to the folder?

And please do keep us posted on how this turns out.
 
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