Do you spend a lot of time copying and pasting data from Excel to PowerPoint? If so, there is a better way. By linking an Excel spreadsheet to a PowerPoint presentation, any updates made in Excel will automatically update in PowerPoint.
In this tutorial, we will show you how to insert Excel in PowerPoint and keep it linked. First, open both Excel and PowerPoint. In this example, we have a quarterly performance review PowerPoint deck and we want to update a table with data from Excel.
To link the table, highlight the table in Excel and click on “Copy”. Then, in PowerPoint, click on the drop-down under “Paste” in the top left-hand corner and select “Paste Special”. Choose “Paste Link” and then “Microsoft Excel Worksheet Object” to insert the table as a linked object.
Now, any changes made in Excel to the source data will automatically update in PowerPoint. To make changes to the table within PowerPoint, simply double click on the table to open the source Excel sheet. However, any formatting changes must be made in Excel as they will flow through to PowerPoint once updated.
Next, we will show you how to link an Excel chart to a PowerPoint slide. Copy the chart in Excel and paste it into PowerPoint. Again, click on the drop-down under “Paste” and select “Paste Link”. Choose the option to link to the source theme to ensure it is connected to the original data in Excel.
Any changes made in the source data in Excel will automatically update the chart in PowerPoint. To make changes to the chart, right click on it and select “Edit Data” to open the source Excel sheet. Keep in mind that any formatting changes must be made in Excel as they will not flow through to PowerPoint.
By following these simple steps, you can save time and ensure that your PowerPoint presentation is always up-to-date with the latest data from Excel.