How to Export a Chart from Excel

You’ve done the hard work of wrangling your data and creating the perfect chart in Excel to visualize your findings. Now, you just need to get it out of the spreadsheet and into a presentation, report, or an email. This definitive guide will walk you through the various ways to export your Excel chart, from a quick copy and paste to creating high-quality images for professional printing.

The Easiest Method: Copy and Paste

The simplest way to move a chart is the universal copy-and-paste method. It's fast, intuitive, and often all you need for inserting a chart into a Word document, PowerPoint presentation, or the body of an email. However, there are a few variations of this method that give you more control over the final result.

Standard Copy and Paste

This is the method you’re likely most familiar with. It’s effective, but it’s important to understand what happens behind the scenes.

Click on the border of your Excel chart to select the entire chart object. You'll know it's selected when you see a solid line or points around the edges.
Copy the chart using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+C (or Cmd+C on a Mac), or by right-clicking the chart and selecting "Copy."
Navigate to your destination application (e.g., Microsoft Word, Outlook, PowerPoint).
Paste the chart using Ctrl+V (or Cmd+V on a Mac).

When you use this method, the pasted chart is often linked to the original Excel file. This can be a huge advantage or a potential risk.

The Pro: Smart Updating. If the chart is linked, it can automatically update in your Word document or PowerPoint whenever you change the data in the source Excel file. This is great for reports that evolve.
The Con: Broken Links and Sensitive Data. If you move, rename, or delete the original Excel file, the link will break, and your chart might disappear or show an error. Also, if you email the document to someone else, they won't be able to update the chart (and in some cases, might be able to access the underlying data, which could be a privacy issue). Your formatting can also sometimes change unexpectedly depending on the destination's default styles.

Using Paste Special for More Control

"Paste Special" is your best friend for avoiding the issues of a standard paste. It gives you explicit options for how you want the chart to appear in its new home. To use it, copy your chart as described above, but instead of using Ctrl+V to paste, right-click in your destination file and look for "Paste Special" or hover over the "Paste Options."

You'll typically see several choices. Here are the most useful ones for charts:

Paste as Picture

This is arguably the most useful Paste Special option for charts. It embeds a static image of your chart into the document.

What it does: It takes a snapshot of your chart exactly as it appears in Excel at that moment and pastes it as an image.
Why you should use it: It locks in the chart's appearance. The data is no longer linked to the spreadsheet, so you don't have to worry about broken links or unintentional updates. Formatting will remain exactly as you designed it. This is the safest way to ensure your report looks the same for everyone who opens it.
Best for: Final reports, emailing documents to external collaborators, and situations where you want total control over the visual presentation.

Keep Source Formatting & Embed Workbook

This option is similar to a standard paste but forces the destination document to use Excel's styling. It embeds a self-contained mini-spreadsheet within your document.

What it does: It pastes the chart and effectively a copy of its source data into your file. Double-clicking the chart in Word or PowerPoint will open a mini Excel window where you can edit the data directly, without affecting your original spreadsheet.
Why you should use it: It allows you to make minor tweaks to the chart data from within your Word or PowerPoint file, without having to go back and find the original spreadsheet.
Best for: When you need a self-contained report where a colleague might need to adjust a single data point without needing full access to the source file. Be aware that it can increase your file size.

Saving Your Chart as an Image File

If you need your chart as a standalone file - for use on a website, in a social media post, or as an email attachment - you should save it directly as an image. This gives you a portable, universally viewable file.

In Excel, right-click the border of the chart you want to export.
Select "Save as Picture..." from the context menu.
A dialog box will open, allowing you to choose a location, file name, and file format.
Choose your preferred format (we'll cover that next), name your file, and click "Save."

That's it! You now have a high-quality image of your chart ready for any use.

Understanding Which Image Format to Choose

Excel gives you several options under "Save as type." The format you choose can impact image quality, file size, and features like transparency.

PNG (Portable Network Graphics)

Best for: Most digital uses, like presentations, web pages, and documents. PNG is a "lossless" format, meaning it preserves crisp, sharp details in lines, text, and logos without any quality degradation. It also supports transparent backgrounds, which is a significant advantage if you want to place your chart over a colored background in PowerPoint or a web design.
When to use it: This should be your default choice for exporting charts nearly all the time.

JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)

Best for: Charts with complex colors, gradients, or photo backgrounds. JPEGs are "lossy," meaning they compress the image by selectively discarding some data, which results in smaller file sizes. This compression works great for photos but can sometimes create fuzzy or pixelated artifacts around sharp lines and text found in typical charts.
When to use it: Use JPEG only if file size is a critical concern and your chart has photo-like complexity. Generally, PNG is a better and safer choice for standard charts.

GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)

Best for: Almost never for static charts. The GIF format is limited to a palette of only 256 colors, which can make your beautifully designed chart look blotchy and dated. Its primary modern use is for simple animations.
When to use it: Stick with PNG unless you have a very specific, niche reason to use GIF.

SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics)

Best for: Web developers and graphic designers. SVG is a vector-based format, not a pixel-based one. This means you can scale the image up or down to any size imaginable - from a tiny icon to a giant billboard - and it will never lose quality or become pixelated. The files are also typically very small.
When to use it: If you're handing the chart over to a designer or embedding it in a website where sharpness across all screen sizes is critical.

Advanced Methods for Higher Quality Exports

What if the standard "Save as Picture" or copy-pasting isn't cutting it? If you need a very high-resolution image for professional printing or a perfectly formatted PDF, you may need a workaround.

The PowerPoint Method for High-Resolution Images

Sometimes Excel's default image export resolution isn't high enough for professional print materials. PowerPoint’s export engine is surprisingly more powerful.

Copy your chart from Excel (Ctrl+C).
Open a new, blank PowerPoint presentation.
Go to the "Home" tab, click the arrow under "Paste," and select "Paste Special."
In the dialog box, choose "Paste as: Picture (Enhanced Metafile)." This is an important step, as it pastes the chart as a high-quality vector object.
With the chart now in PowerPoint, right-click it and choose "Save as Picture..."
Now, when you choose the file format (like PNG or TIFF), PowerPoint will export it at a much higher resolution than Excel would have.

Exporting a Chart as a PDF

If you just want the chart itself as a PDF document, Excel doesn't have a direct "export chart to PDF" button. But the process is still quite simple.

Click on the chart you want to export. By selecting it, you are telling Excel this is the only thing you want to print or save.
Go to File > Save As.
In the "Save as type" dropdown menu, select "PDF (*.pdf)".
Before clicking save, click the "Options..." button.
Under the "Publish what" section, select "Selected chart".
Click "OK" and then "Save."

This will generate a clean PDF document containing only your chart, perfectly cropped and ready to share.

Final Thoughts

Mastering how to get your charts out of Excel is a crucial skill for clearly communicating data. Whether you opt for a quick copy-and-paste, a professional-grade PNG save, or a high-resolution PDF, the right method depends on where your chart is headed and who will see it.

We know that even after creating the perfect chart, building reports and dashboards across all your different marketing and sales platforms is still a challenge. To automate that entire manual process, we built Graphed. It securely connects to sources like Google Analytics, Shopify, and Salesforce and uses AI to build real-time, interactive dashboards from plain-English prompts. This eliminates the need for exporting and frees you up to act on insights instead of just finding them.