Section 4.3. CLIP ART | Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances: How to Fix the Most Annoying Things about Your Favorite Presentation Program

4.2. EXCEL

4.2.1. Excel Data Cut Off

THE ANNOYANCE: I pasted cells from an Excel spreadsheet into my presentation, but a bunch of rows got cut off. How can I get the whole thing onto my slide?

THE FIX: The easiest way to fix this is to upgrade to PowerPoint 2002 or 2003, which fix the limitation PowerPoint and Excel seem to have when exchanging information on the clipboard.

There is a limit to the size of the PowerPoint 97 and 2000 clipboardabout 33x33 cm. Anything outside that area may be cut off. If you can, reformat your data to make it fit within this 33x33 cm area (for example, decrease the font size or the width of your columns). On a default spreadsheet, this would be about 72 rows long by 17 columns wide.

Depending on your operating system, you may also be able to copy more data if you change your display setting from, say, 800x600 to 1024x768 or 1280x1024. Right-click your desktop, choose Properties, click the Settings tab, and move the slider in the Screen resolution area (see Figure 4-11).

The only other solution is to paste pieces of your spreadsheet onto your slide and then realign the data once you get everything in PowerPoint.

Figure 4-11. Changing your display resolution may let you paste more data from Excel onto your slide.

4.2.2. Colored Text Turns Black

THE ANNOYANCE: I imported my spreadsheet okay, but the colored text turned black. It's really bizarre.

THE FIX: Make sure your default printer is a color printer. Yeah, it's weird, but that really is the fix!

To set your default printer, click Start Control Panel Printers and Faxes. Right-click the color printer in the list and choose "Set as Default Printer (see Figure 4-12).

Figure 4-12. Make your default printer a color printer to force your Excel text to remain colored when you paste it into PowerPoint.

You don't actually need a color printer connected to your computer. You can still install the printer drivers for a color printer and set it as the default while you work on the presentation. To install color printer drivers, click Start Control Panel Printers and Faxes. In the Printers and Faxes dialog box, select File Add Printer. Follow the prompts to install a local printer to LPT1, and choose something like HP DeskJet 722C from the list.

4.2.3. Get Rid of Gridlines

THE ANNOYANCE: I pasted in a bunch of Excel data, but I can't get the gridlines to go away. Help!

THE FIX: You have to remove the gridlines in Excel before you paste the data into PowerPoint. Open the file in Excel, choose Tools Options, click the View tab, and uncheck the Gridlines box in the Window options area (see Figure 4-13).

Figure 4-13. To make gridlines disappear, uncheck the Gridlines box before you paste your data into PowerPoint.

4.2.4. Extract Data from an Embedded Excel Chart

THE ANNOYANCE: Some doofus embedded an Excel chart into the presentation, but we really only want it linked so the market research people can update the data without messing up our PowerPoint file. Is there a way to get this information out of PowerPoint, or do we have to start over and create a new workbook in Excel for the research folks?

THE FIX: Just right-click the chart and choose Chart Object Open. Then select File Save Copy As. This saves a copy of the chart and data in an Excel workbook you can let your market research people work on. Delete the original chart in the PowerPoint file and create a link to the chart in the new Excel workbook: copy the chart in Excel, select Edit Paste Special in PowerPoint, and choose the "Paste link option to link the chart to the presentation. As long as you don't break the link to the Excel file by moving it to a different folder, the data will update each time you open the PowerPoint file. To change this behavior, select Edit Links and choose the desired options.

4.2.5. Paste the Whole Workbook with the Chart

THE ANNOYANCE: I've copied Excel charts into PowerPoint for years, but I just realized that it pastes the entire workbook. Has PowerPoint always behaved this way?

THE FIX: By default, when you paste Excel charts into PowerPoint, it embeds the entire workbook. This can cause problemslarge file sizes, data being inadvertently included in presentations, etc.

In PowerPoint 97 and 2000, if you do not want the entire workbook included in your presentation, you must select Edit Paste Special and choose an image type from the list (see Figure 4-14). This pastes a simple image of the Excel chart, which is no longer connected to the data used to create it.

Figure 4-14. The Paste Special dialog box lets you specify what format you want to paste.

In PowerPoint 2002 and 2003, you can select Edit Paste Special to choose an image, or you can simply click the Paste Options icon to paste a picture of the chart (see Figure 4-15). The Paste Options button appears when you paste an object onto a slide, and the available options depend on what type of object youve pasted. For example, pasting data cells from an Excel spreadsheet pastes a "PowerPoint-style table" by default. The Paste Options button lets you paste as an Excel Table (entire workbook), a Picture of Table (smaller file size), or Keep Text Only.

Figure 4-15. The Paste Options icon shows up immediately after you paste something on a slide. The options you see change with the type of object that you paste.

4.2.6. Font Size Goes Wacky When I Resize

THE ANNOYANCE: When I try to resize the data I pasted by dragging the edges and corners on the slide, the font size goes crazy and gets distorted. How can I make this stop?

THE FIX: Select Edit Paste Special, choose the "Paste link option, and then choose "Microsoft Office Excel Workbook Object" to link to the spreadsheet as opposed to embedding it in the slide. You can break the link later if necessary.

4.2.7. Create Separate Chartsheets

THE ANNOYANCE: I have a bunch of charts in a workbook, which I linked to my presentation. When I update the links, the different charts in the PowerPoint file all change to the same chart, so it looks like I just linked to the same chart over and over. This is not good.

THE FIX: Put the charts on separate chartsheets in Excel, and then link them to the PowerPoint slides. To change a graph from a chart object to a separate chartsheet, right-click the chart in Excel, choose Location, and select "Place chart as new sheet." Then reinsert them into your presentation. If the charts continue to change when updating, save the separate chartsheets as separate Excel workbooks.

OLE Linking Versus Embedding

The main difference between OLE linking and OLE embedding is where the data is actually stored.

If you copy a cell range in an Excel spreadsheet and paste it onto a PowerPoint slide, you have created an OLE embedded object. In this case, the entire spreadsheet is embedded within the PowerPoint file. OLE embedded objects increase your PowerPoint file size because they include not only all the data from the source file, but also the overhead that allows you to open the source application and edit the file from within PowerPoint. You can delete the Excel file and it will not affect the data on your PowerPoint slide.

If you copy the same cell range in Excel, select Edit Paste Special, and then choose Paste Link, PowerPoint creates a shortcut to the Excel file. Thus, when you update the data in Excel, it will also update on your PowerPoint slide.

To get the best of both worlds, create OLE linked objects using Edit Paste Special Paste Link while youre working on the file, and then ungroup the object before finalizing the presentation and/or sending it to others. (Of course, do this on a copy of your presentation if you're sending for review before the file is finalized.) This will break the "shortcut" OLE link to the object, leaving you with an image that's easily displayed in your PowerPoint file and that doesn't cause a huge file size hit.

4.2.8. Fonts on Chart Not Visible

THE ANNOYANCE: My Excel chart uses black fonts, which makes it impossible to read when I paste it onto my slide with a black background. Do I have to reformat this stupid chart just so I can see what it says?

THE FIX: Relax, you don't have to reformat your chart. Instead, recolor the chart to make it more readable.

Choose View Toolbars Picture to display the Picture toolbar. Select the chart and click the Recolor Excel Chart button (see the left side of Figure 4-16). Specify whether to recolor the entire chart, recolor only the text and background colors of the chart, or do nothing (see the right side of Figure 4-16).

Figure 4-16. The Recolor option on the Picture toolbar (left) lets you recolor portions of your Excel chart or the entire thing (right).

Note: The Recolor tool on the Picture toolbar is also great for working with clip art. It lets you recolor clips without having to deconstruct them by ungrouping a million times, selecting individual pieces and changing the colors, and then regrouping.PowerPoint also has a hidden feature that lets you recolor slide background images (see www.indezine.com/products/powerpoint/cool/recolorimages.html for specifics).

4.2.9. Excel Headers and Footers Don't Transfer

THE ANNOYANCE: How do I import headers and footers from an Excel workbook onto a slide? I can get the Excel workbook onto the PowerPoint slide without any trouble.

THE FIX: Headers and footers don't actually show up in Excel until you print the file. If you must transfer your headers and footers to the PowerPoint slide, add text boxes to the Excel worksheet, enter the appropriate header and footer text, and take a screenshot. You can hit the Print Screen button on your keyboard and Ctrl+V to paste the image onto the slide. Crop as desired using the Crop tool on the Picture toolbar in PowerPoint. Alternatively, you can add the headers and footers by adding text boxes to the PowerPoint slide itself.

Note: Print Screen will capture your entire monitor display. Holding the Alt key while you hit Print Screen will limit the capture to the active window.