Microsoft Excel allows us to estimate different types of data and carry out monetary, mathematical, and statistical computations. Microsoft applications have the ability to support cross-platform functionality. Using Excel files with PowerPoint presentations allows you to display complex data in a much simpler way. In business presentations or academic presentations, this is very useful. In this article, I’ll show you how to link Excel sheets to PowerPoint. Let’s begin!
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What Are the Benefits of Linking Excel to PowerPoint?
Linking Excel and PowerPoint to automate and secure reports is an effective solution. Additionally, it will save you time and reduce the risk of manual errors. When making a presentation, you always want the most recent data available. You can do it manually, but it takes a long time and requires you to adjust and reformat the charts every time. Moreover, the risk of manual error is very high. For these reasons, linking Excel sheets to PowerPoint is both convenient and efficient.
How to Link Excel Sheets to PowerPoint: 3 Easy Ways
In this article, you will come to know some easy ways of linking Excel sheets to PowerPoint. To demonstrate the methods, I have taken a concise dataset of 11 rows and 4 columns, which are Region, Item, Units, and Profits. We are going to use the Excel 365 version in this article. You can use any other version according to your convenience.
Now let’s go through the methods below.
1. Using Object Command to Link an Entire Excel Sheet to PowerPoint
Suppose you need to provide a link to an Excel worksheet. In such cases, you can link a full worksheet and open it as needed. To do that, first, you need to save your Excel file, from which you need to connect data to PowerPoint. In my current worksheet, I have a dataset of 11 rows and 4 columns. I have also included a 3-D pie chart in my worksheet.
Now follow the below steps accordingly.
📌 Steps:
- First, open PowerPoint and navigate to the slide you want to link to the sheet.
- Then go to the Insert tab and click on Object under the Text section.
As a result, the Insert Object dialog box will be opened.
- Click on the Create from file option.
- Click on Browse. Select the workbook you want to link and click Open.
- Check the Link checkbox and click OK.
This inserts the Excel workbook as an image. You can go to the main Excel file by double-clicking on the image. If you make any changes to the Excel file, they will reflect in PowerPoint.
2. Using Paste Link Command to Link a Section of the Excel Sheet to PowerPoint
Sometimes you don’t need to link the entire worksheet, but only certain sections of the Excel sheet to the PowerPoint presentations. In our case, suppose we want to show the first five rows of data on our PowerPoint slide. In that case, follow the below steps to link a section of the Excel sheet.
📌 Steps:
- First, open the Excel file from which we want to import the data. The Excel file must be saved before importing data to PowerPoint.
- Select the specific portion of data as per your choice and copy it by using the shortcut key Ctrl+C.
- After that open PowerPoint and select the slide you want to paste the data.
- Go to the Home tab. Click on the dropdown from Paste and select Paste Special.
As a result, the Paste Special dialog box will be opened.
- Click on the Paste link radio button. Select Microsoft Excel Worksheet Object from the As: section.
- Click OK.
As a result, the selected section will be inserted into the PowerPoint slide.
You can edit the data in the main Excel file if needed. The inserted section in the PowerPoint slide will be automatically updated. Right-click on the inserted section and select Update Link if the inserted section doesn’t update automatically.
3. Using Paste Special Option to Link Excel Sheets to PowerPoint
In this part, I will show another way to link Excel to PowerPoint, which is using the Paste Special option. Follow the below steps to learn more.
📌 Steps:
- First, open the Excel file from which we want to import the data. The Excel file must be saved before importing data to PowerPoint.
- Select the data you want to insert and copy it by using the shortcut key Ctrl+C.
- Now open PowerPoint and select the slide you want to paste the data.
- Go to the Home tab. Click on the dropdown from Paste and select your preferred Paste Options.
In our case, we selected “Keep Source Formatting“. As a result, it will insert the data into the PowerPoint slide.
How to Insert an Excel File into PowerPoint as an Icon
In this section, we’ll show you how to insert a complete Excel file as an icon into PowerPoint. The Paste method is a simple way to insert an Excel file as an icon into a PowerPoint presentation. Let’s follow the below steps
📌 Steps:
- First, open the Excel file or workbook you want to insert. Then copy the data table.
- After that open PowerPoint and select the slide you want to paste the data.
- Go to the Home tab. Click on the dropdown from Paste and select Paste Special.
- Click on the Paste bar and Display as icon bar. You can change the icon by selecting the Change Icon.
- Click OK.
- Drag the icon to your desired position and double-click to go to the main Excel file.
How to Insert an Excel Chart in PowerPoint
In PowerPoint, you can also insert Excel charts. I’ll show you how to insert an Excel chart into PowerPoint with the help of this chart.
Here are the steps to follow.
📌 Steps:
- Open the Excel file from where you want to insert the chart.
- Highlight the chart and press Ctrl+C to copy the chart.
- Now open PowerPoint and select the slide you want to insert the chart.
- Go to the Home tab. Click on the dropdown from Paste and select your preferred Paste Options. Or you can just right-click on the slide where you want to paste the chart.
In this case, we have selected the second option, which is Keep Source Formatting & Embed Workbook. There are also other options that you can choose from based on your needs. As a result, it will insert the Excel chart into the PowerPoint slide.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Can I automatically update data from Excel to PowerPoint?
Yes, you can automatically update data from Excel to PowerPoint. You can follow method-2 of this article. I hope the information mentioned in this article will help you get your answer.
2. How do you link a PowerPoint chart to Excel data?
I have already shown the procedures for inserting an Excel chart into a PowerPoint slide in this article. Go through the article. I hope it will help you get your answer to this problem.
Key Takeaways from This Article
- In this article, I have shown how to link Excel Sheets to PowerPoint.
- A chosen real-life dataset for better understanding.
- Focusing on how to create a link between Excel sheets to PowerPoint with some easy ways.
- Explained different approaches of linking Excel Sheets to PowerPoint.
- Showed how to insert an Excel file into PowerPoint as an icon.
- Provide solutions to frequently asked questions of readers.
- Overall, focused on creating a link between Excel Sheets and PowerPoint.
Conclusion
In this article, I’ve explained some easy ways to link Excel sheets to PowerPoint. This will improve your PowerPoint presentations as well as your ability to work faster and more efficiently. I hope you found this article informative and enjoyable. For more Excel and Excel VBA-related articles, visit ExcelDemy. Let me know in the comments section if you have any questions, comments, or recommendations.
