How to Embed Excel Files and Link Data Into PowerPoint

But you might not be done making style changes. Fortunately, you’re in luck.

Throughout this tutorial, you’ll see the SIMPLECO PowerPoint template featured. It’s a robust premium design from Envato Elements. Download it today to follow along. 

Start Embedding Excel Into PowerPoint

Now, let’s get started with the simplest way to make a PowerPoint embedded Excel. The first step is to click on your chart inside of Excel and make sure it's selected. Then, you can press copy, either by pressing Ctrl + C on your keyboard or pressing the Copy button on Excel's ribbon.

Now, let's switch over to the SIMPLECO template, which is open in PowerPoint. Find some space on one of your slides. Then, press either Ctrl + V on your keyboard, or press the Paste button on PowerPoint's ribbon. Below, you can see that the data and amounts match when you paste.

Notice that it brought over the same data from our Excel workbook, but it reformatted the style to match the PPT presentation. These are the default options to take charts from Excel to PowerPoint.

This is the most basic way to place an Excel chart inside your PowerPoint file. But as always, there's more power hidden behind the scenes in PowerPoint.

Excel to PowerPoint Paste Options Explained

Maybe you want to paste your chart as a picture that the viewer can't edit. Or maybe you want to link your Excel chart to PowerPoint so that they update data and stay synced.

When you're taking charts from Excel to PowerPoint, you really have two choices to make:

1. How do you want to handle the data - should it be linked to an Excel workbook, or embedded right inside the PowerPoint file?
2. Should the style of the chart stay the same, or should it match the rest of your presentation?

These options are all available when you Right-click inside PowerPoint with a chart on your clipboard. 

There are actually five ways that you can take data from Excel to PowerPoint, and each of them handles your data a bit differently. For your reference, here are the descriptions of each of the paste options in PowerPoint:

1. Use Destination Theme and Embed Workbook
2. Keep Source Formatting and Embed Workbook 
3. Use Destination Theme and Link Data
4. Keep Source Formatting and Link Data
5. Paste as picture

I think of the major categories as embedding, linking, and pasting as a picture. Let's learn about each of those categories.

1. Embed Excel Workbook in PowerPoint

The first two icons (1 and 2) allow you to embed data inside the PowerPoint file. This means that PowerPoint stores the data behind the scenes inside the PowerPoint file. 

Once you paste the file in and embed the workbook, the data is separated from the Excel file and stored inside the PowerPoint file.

To update the data inside of an embedded Excel file, you can right-click the chart and choose Edit Data from the menu. This opens an embedded Excel spreadsheet inside the PowerPoint file where you can edit the data in the chart.

Embedding data has many advantages. The charts in your presentation work whether or not you've got access to the original Excel file. Embedding does increase the size of your PowerPoint file.

The major downside to embedding data is that it doesn't stay synced to the Excel file that you're doing analysis and data review inside of. If you're going back and forth between the two apps, linking might be a better choice.

2. Link Excel Data to PowerPoint

Linking data (icons 3 and 4) keeps your PowerPoint and Excel file in sync. If you change the data for the chart in Excel, you can update the pasted chart in PowerPoint to use the latest data.

When PowerPoint and Excel are both open at the same time, this happens automatically for linked data. Make a change in Excel, and the linked PowerPoint chart updates in real time. 

If you're working in Excel and PowerPoint at different times, you'll want to update your data. Make sure to hit Refresh Data on the Chart Design tab on PowerPoint's ribbon.

Linking is great to keep the data connected so that you don't have to keep rebuilding your charts as you move from Excel to PowerPoint. 

But linking your data directly to Excel isn't always the right choice. The downside to using the linked option is two-fold:

1. If you send your PowerPoint file to someone and they don't have access to the Excel file, refreshing data won't work.
2. If others are changing the linked Excel file behind the scenes without your knowledge, you run the risk of updating your presentation with incorrect data.

If you're still a bit fuzzy about choosing between embedding and linking data from Excel to PowerPoint, check out the official Microsoft help page to see a comparison of the two.

3. Paste Excel Chart as Picture in PowerPoint

The final option to place a chart in PowerPoint is to simply paste the chart you built in Excel as a flattened, non-editable picture.

When you paste a chart as a picture, the styles will appear the same as the Excel version of the chart and no longer be editable within PowerPoint.

This feature is handy when you want to ensure that the data isn't changed or altered by the recipient. But pasting as a picture causes you to lose any ability to edit or change the chart.

Excel to PowerPoint Paste Formatting Options

Whether you choose to embed or link your data, you can choose how to handle the style of your charts when you move from Excel to PowerPoint. Both "embed" and "link" options have two choices for how to handle styling.

Let's look at the difference between "Use Destination Theme" and "Keep Source Formatting." These options don't change the way we work with data—both options embed your data in the PowerPoint file—but they do change the appearance of the charts.

1. Keep Source Formatting. Uses the same chart style used in Excel.
2. Use Destination Theme. Matches the style of your chart to the PowerPoint theme.

In the screenshot below, you can see examples of each option. Using Keep Source Formatting kept the chart exactly the same as it appeared in Excel. Use Destination Theme helps your charts blend in with the rest of the presentation.

Once a chart is placed in the PowerPoint file, you can edit and restyle the presentation. Think of this paste option as the starting point.

5 Quick Tips to Effectively Share Data in PowerPoint

We’ve learned about embedding Excel into PowerPoint. As you can see, linking the two apps is a seamless process. It helps you keep data and charts up to date to share with your audience. But sharing data can still seem daunting. What are some good rules of thumb? What do you need to do to succeed?

Read on for five of my favorite tips for effectively sharing data in PowerPoint. Embrace these ideas to succeed in 2023:

1. Opt for Colorful Styling

Bland, flat styles never inspired anyone. The trick is to use bright, colorful styles. You’ll enjoy several benefits when you do this. First, you’ll have shareable charts that are creative and engaging. You won’t bore your audience.

Plus, the creative use of color helps add contrast. For example, if you’re sharing charts, you can make each data series a different color. This makes your PowerPoint embedded Excel much easier to read and understand.

2. Animate to Control the Pace and Flow

Data is best shared as part of a narrative flow. In other words, you don’t always want your audience to see it all at once. That’s especially true if you’re providing details along the way. Data without context is “information overload” and can quickly become confusing.

Using animations in PowerPoint is a great way to control the pace and flow of your data slides. You can present Excel-based data in a certain order, rather than all at once. 

Learn how with our full tutorial on PowerPoint’s Animation pane, the control center for slide animation:

• 

  How to Control PowerPoint Animation With the Animation Pane

  

  Andrew Childress

  05 Apr 2022