Add a Chart That Stays Up-To-Date

To make sure that a Microsoft Excel chart you insert into a document or presentation displays the most recent data, create a link to the source chart in the Microsoft Excel workbook. The chart you see is actually a representation of the chart that exists in the workbook. That chart is updated whenever its source data changes, and the linked representation in your file is updated accordingly. You can create links to files located on your computer, on a network, on your company’s intranet, or on the Internet.

Important   To ensure that a chart in a presentation is up-to-date, you must have access to the workbook containing the chart. The surest way to maintain the link to the source workbook is to save the Microsoft Excel workbook and the document or presentation file in the same folder, such as a project folder. For more information, see Create Links to Automatically Update Information.

Modify a link   You can reassign the link to a different chart, specify manual or automatic updating, or lock the link to prevent changes. To modify a link, click Links (Edit menu). Display a slide you want to add a chart to   If you are adding a chart to a slide in Microsoft PowerPoint, after copying the chart in Microsoft Excel, switch to PowerPoint and then display the slide you want to add the chart to. Click Paste Special (Edit menu), and then click Paste Link. What if your data is in a table in Microsoft Word?   You don’t have to copy the data into Microsoft Excel. Instead, use Microsoft Graph to create the chart. For more information, see Create Charts with Microsoft Graph.

Insert a Chart if Updating Isn’t Necessary

When you want a chart to be part of your document or presentation instead of a representation of a chart that exists elsewhere, insert the chart. For example, you might be submitting a final report that doesn’t need to be updated. Or the source data might not be available later for updating. The chart looks the same whether it is linked or inserted, and in either case you can open, modify, and format the chart. You follow the same steps to insert a chart as you do to create a link to one, except that after copying the chart, you click Paste (Edit menu) instead of Paste Special. Or, click Object (Insert menu) and select Microsoft Excel Chart from the Object type list.

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Want to know more?   Look up Getting Results - Add Chart in Help.