How to Insert Excel Chart into PowerPoint

Putting a chart from Excel into a PowerPoint presentation is one of the most common ways to visualize data, but the best way to do it isn't always obvious. You can copy and paste it, but what happens when your data changes? This guide covers the different methods for inserting an Excel chart into PowerPoint, explaining how to create both static and dynamic, auto-updating charts.

Why Bother Inserting an Excel Chart Directly?

You might be tempted to just take a screenshot of your chart and paste it into PowerPoint. While that works, it gives up several key benefits that come with properly inserting your chart.

• Keep Your Data Accurate: When you link your chart, your PowerPoint presentation always reflects the latest numbers from your Excel file. This prevents you from presenting outdated information.
• Save Time on Updates: Instead of manually remaking your chart every time a number changes, a linked chart can update with a single click, saving you precious time during reporting cycles.
• Maintain Professionalism: Properly inserted charts are crisp, editable, and can adapt to your presentation's theme. Screenshots often look pixelated and unprofessional.
• Stay Organized: Keeping your raw data in Excel and your presentation visuals in PowerPoint is a clean workflow that separates data management from presentation design.

The Two Main Approaches: Embedding vs. Linking

Before you copy anything, it’s critical to understand the difference between embedding and linking. Your choice here determines how your chart behaves and interacts with your original Excel file.

What is Embedding?

Embedding a chart means you copy the chart and its underlying data and place a self-contained version of it inside your PowerPoint file. Think of it as taking an independent snapshot.

• Pros: The chart becomes part of your presentation. The original Excel file isn't needed for the chart to display or be edited. You can send the PowerPoint to anyone, and they can open it without issues or broken links. You can even edit the chart's data by opening a small Excel instance directly within PowerPoint.
• Cons: The chart does not update if you make changes to the original Excel file. The connection to the source is severed. It also increases the file size of your PowerPoint presentation because it now stores a copy of the chart’s data.

What is Linking?

Linking a chart means you are placing a visual reference to your Excel chart inside your PowerPoint. The chart you see is still tied directly to the original Excel file.

• Pros: If you change the data in your source Excel file, the chart in your PowerPoint presentation will update automatically (or prompt you to update). This is perfect for reports that rely on continuously changing data. Linking also keeps your PowerPoint file size smaller.
• Cons: A link is a dependency. A linked chart requires access to the original Excel file to update. If you move, rename, or delete the Excel file, the link will break. If you email the PowerPoint to someone, you must also send them the Excel file and instruct them on how to re-link it if the path changes.

Method 1: How to Embed an Excel Chart into PowerPoint

This is the simplest method and is ideal when you have a finalized chart that won’t need future updates based on changing data. It's essentially a smart copy-and-paste.

1. Create Your Chart in Excel: Select the data you want to visualize in your Excel sheet. Go to the Insert tab and choose a chart type (e.g., Column, Bar, Pie). Customize it as needed.
2. Copy the Chart: Once your chart is ready, click on it to select it, then copy it. You can do this by right-clicking the chart and choosing Copy or pressing Ctrl + C.
3. Navigate to PowerPoint: Open your PowerPoint presentation and go to the slide where you want the chart to appear.
4. Choose Your Paste Option: Right-click on the slide where you want to place the chart. You'll see several "Paste Options." For embedding, you have two primary choices:

Once you choose one of these options, your chart is now embedded. You can double-click it to open an instance of Excel within PowerPoint to make minor data tweaks without ever leaving your presentation.

Method 2: How to Link an Excel Chart to PowerPoint for Automatic Updates

This method is your go-to when your Excel sheet is a "living document" that gets updated regularly. This ensures your presentation is always in sync with your latest data.

1. Prepare and Copy Your Excel Chart: Just like before, create and select your chart in Excel, and copy it using Ctrl + C.
2. Go to Your PowerPoint Slide: Switch over to PowerPoint.
3. Choose a Linking Paste Option: Right-click on your slide to see the "Paste Options." The two options for linking are:
4. Test the Link: Now, go back to your original Excel spreadsheet and change one of the data points that power your chart. For example, if you have a sales chart, increase a monthly sales number.
5. Update the Chart in PowerPoint: When you switch back to PowerPoint, the chart might update automatically. If not, don't worry. Just right-click the chart and select Update Link. You can also go to the Chart Design tab that appears when you select the chart and click Refresh Data. Your chart will instantly reflect the new numbers from your Excel file.

Bonus Tip: Making Your Links More Reliable

To avoid broken links, it's a best practice to keep your Excel workbook and your PowerPoint presentation in the same folder, especially if you plan to move them to a different computer or a shared drive. This helps PowerPoint locate the source file more easily.

Method 3: Inserting as an "Object"

An alternative, slightly more formal way to link a chart is by using the "Insert Object" function. This gives you a bit more control but is less commonly used than the simple copy-paste linking method.

1. In PowerPoint, go to the Insert tab.
2. In the Text group, click Object.
3. An "Insert Object" dialog box will appear. Select the Create from file option.
4. Click Browse... and navigate to the Excel workbook that contains your chart. Select it and click OK.
5. This is the most important step: Check the box that says Link. If you forget to check this box, the object will be embedded, not linked.
6. Click OK.

PowerPoint will insert the first sheet of your Excel workbook onto the slide. You may need to crop it to show only your chart. This chart is now linked, and any updates to the original Excel file will be reflected here.

Common Problems and Troubleshooting Tips

Sometimes things don't go as planned. Here are some quick fixes for common issues.

• My Linked Chart Won't Update: First, ensure both the Excel and PowerPoint files are saved. Sometimes, changes don't register until the source file is saved. If that doesn't work, go to File > Info in PowerPoint. At the very bottom right, you'll see a section called Related Documents. Click Edit Links to Files. This menu shows you the status of all your linked files and allows you to manually update links, change the source file, or break a link.
• My Chart Formatting Looks Wrong: This almost always comes down to choosing the wrong "Source" vs. "Destination" theme option during the paste process. The easiest fix is to delete the chart and re-paste it using the other option. "Use Destination Theme" is usually the safest bet for a polished presentation.
• Error Message: "The linked file is unavailable": This means the link is broken. Someone has moved, renamed, or deleted the source Excel file. Use the Edit Links to Files menu (mentioned above) to "Change Source" and tell PowerPoint where to find the file in its new location.

Final Thoughts

Choosing between embedding and linking depends entirely on your needs. For a one-time, static report, embedding is simple and reliable. For ongoing reports and data that changes, linking is an invaluable tool that keeps your presentations accurate and saves you from repetitive manual work.

The manual process of copying, pasting, and managing file links shows how disconnected data and presentations can become. We built Graphed to solve this problem from the ground up. Instead of pulling data into Excel and then pushing it to PowerPoint, we let you connect directly to your data sources (like Google Analytics, Shopify, QuickBooks, and Facebook Ads). You can then use plain English to build real-time, interactive dashboards that are always up-to-date and shareable with a simple link - no more broken files or a multi-step process for every small update.