PP 2003: Chart from Excel File

[oceanmist]

I prepared a chart from an Excel file and brought the chart into Powerpoint
(so I guess it is now linked). I need to move the location of the Excel
spreadsheet but not the location of the Powerpoint chart. Will that mess up
the editing of the chart function should I need to use it in the future?

 

[CalTex]

Steve -

I have created a PowerPoint graph with a linked (not embedded) Excel file.
I have provided both files to my client and when she attempts to update the
PowerPoint graph with the revised Excel data, she gets a message that "The
linked file wasn't available or can't be found." I think I would prefer that
the Excel file be embedded, but can this be done at this point without having
to redo this PowerPoint graphic containing 2 bar graph elements linked to the
one Excel file and with significant graphic enhancements and is integrated
into an overlay of various autoshape graphics? Alternatively, I would be
interested in how to make the link to the Excel file relative rather than
absolute so that as long as the Excel file is in the folder as the PowerPoint
file, there will be no break in the link. Thanks.

 

[CalTex]

That's what's so frustrating. I assured her at the beginning that as long as
she kept the two files in the same folder everything would be fine. When she
called to report that the Excel file couldn't be found, I tried walking her
through it over the phone, but still to no avail. Then I did a test of the
two files on another computer so I could see what was happening first hand
and I had the same experience as my client. And I have since learned that if
I move the Excel file into a subfolder from the PowerPoint file on the
original computer and attempt to update the PowerPoint graph element, it
finds the Excel file, but updates to the corresponding cells of the first
worksheet instead of the second or third worksheet in which view the Excel
file was last saved.

 

[CalTex]

when you open the files on another computer what does the link

point to when you choose Edit, Links?

There are two links listed, one for each of the two graph elements in the
PowerPoint slide, which are linked to the same file. Both show an absolute
link from my C: drive to the .xls filename. The PowerPoint file had been
saved with “manual updating†selected so as not to get the update message
upon opening the file. Entries in the “Type†column for both are
“Worksheetâ€, but the “Update†column lists one as “Unavailable†while the
other is “Manualâ€.

Regarding the worksheet view when saving, I found that saving in a specific
worksheet view makes a difference when updating (at least from my computer).
Of the two graph elements in the PowerPoint slide, one is linked to worksheet
#2 and the other to worksheet #3 in the same .xls file. If the .xls file is
saved in the worksheet #3 view, and the PowerPoint graph element linked to
worksheet #2 is subsequently updated, that graph element is replaced with the
information in worksheet #3 instead—or whatever worksheet was being viewed at
the time the .xls file was saved.

If interested, the files in question are available for download from the
following URL: http://www.doug-morgan.com/tmp531/ . The first page of the
2-page PowerPoint file states the instructions for updating the graph
elements of slide 2. Thanks.

 

[CalTex]

Steve -

I REALLY appreciate your assistance. I redid the slide based on your "paste
special -> Link" and "shortened path" suggestions and that, hopefully, has
done the trick. Tests on a different computer worked pretty well, although
the first folder into which I placed the files seemed break the link, but
when I moved them into another folder, it worked. Then I found I could move
the files back to the original folder without breaking the link. I provided
my client with a new version to evaluate this evening. If it works, it will
be much easier to update than the previous version. I'll keep you posted on
the results of the evaluation. Thanks again.

- Doug


: