Keep Your Linked Charts Up to Date
If you use Excel for generating charts on a regular basis, you are probably familiar with having to click on each chart and adding a new data series to the chart or expanding the range of the current series.
Unfortunately, it is easy to miss an update, and if your chart is linked to other Word & PowerPoint documents, your reports that rely on the charts will also be out of date.
Instead, you can Make a dynamic chart by basing your shared charts on a table instead of a manually inserted range.
To turn your data range into a table, select the range, then click the Table command on the Insert tab. Now, create your chart by selecting the table and inserting you chart of choice as normal.
When you enter new data into the table (by dragging the bracket), your chart will then adjust itself to include new rows and column in your data automatically.
Caution! When you link (instead of embed) to a specific Excel spreadsheet, you won't be able to update the chart if you move or delete the source document or email the destination document to someone else.
[File: exportexcelcharts04.png]
Paste as Picture
If you don't need to regularly update your chart, you can paste the chart as a picture which automatically turns the chart into an image when it places it in the destination document. Place your cursor in the spot where the chart will go and right-click. Select Picture (U) from the fly-out menu under the Paste Options: heading.
You can then edit the image like any other, but you will not be able to change or open the source data or change the chart. Notice that the colors and text formatting will appear exactly as it does in the source chart. If you wish to make a chart that matches your destination theme's colors and fonts, you will need to make those changes in the Excel spreadsheet first.
[File: exportexcelcharts05.png]
Paste Special
If you have specific requirements for how you want a chart image to appear in your document, place your cursor where the chart will go, then click the dropdown arrow on the Paste button. Select Paste Special to open the dialog box. From there you can choose what kind of image your chart should be pasted as, such as PNG or GIF file.
[File: exportexcelcharts06.png]
[File: exportexcelcharts07.png]
Most of these options are also available by using Insert Object. But with copy/paste such an easy and flexible method for exporting Excel charts and importing them into other Office documents, you may find that you never use Insert Object again.
Create Chart Consistency With Templates
Style consistency increases the appearance of professionalism—especially if it reflects your company’s brand, typography, and color scheme. Excel includes a means to save chart templates for later reuse so that you can easily copy/paste them into your branded Word Documents and PowerPoint presentations.
Save Chart as a Template
Once you have created and adjusted your chart into the style you want to replicate, right-click the chart and choose Save as Template. In the dialog box that follows, save your chart template under a name that you’ll remember. Be sure that the folder is set to Charts – the default.
Apply the Template
To apply the chart style settings to a new set of chart data, select the data range or table, then click Recommended Charts on the Insert tab.
Select the All Charts tab.
Select Templates. Then, click on the name of the template that you saved in the last step.
Your new chart now has the design and format of the template! Be sure to adjust any text – such as titles, etc. – that might differ from the original chart.
By turning your data ranges into tables and creating branded chart templates, you can turn Excel’s powerful charting tools into beautiful, up-to-date additions to presentations, reports, brochures and more across the Office platform.
