When working with Excel sheets and graphs in PowerPoint, it really helps to have them update with new information without having to enter it manually. This helps you avoid tediously typing all the new data yourself. Here, we will be talking about how to link data from an Excel sheet to a PowerPoint slide. This should work for any version of PowerPoint from 2003 onward.

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How to Link A Table From Excel to PowerPoint?

First of all, make the table in Excel. Make sure to format the table exactly the way you want it to look in PowerPoint. When you’re done making it in Excel, simply copy and paste the table from Excel to a slide in PowerPoint. Highlight the table in Excel, copy it using the keyboard shortcut, Ctrl+C and paste it in a PowerPoint slide by pressing Ctrl+V

PowerPoint might ask you to select some options. Select Paste Special and click the OK button to paste the Excel table, and that is basically it! Now, anytime there is a change in the contents of the table you pasted, it should also change in the PowerPoint presentation.

How To Edit The Excel Sheet From PowerPoint?

You can edit the Excel sheet from within PowerPoint as well. You can do this by double clicking the Excel sheet in the PowerPoint slide. However, at some point you might not want anyone to be able to edit the Excel file anymore. You can make sure of this by making it a Read-Only file. You can do this by Right-Clicking the Excel file that contains the linked table, and clicking Properties. In it, go to the General tab and look under Attributes. Click the box labeled Read-Only.

What Can Break This Link?

Be aware that this will only work as long as the Excel file that contains the Table is not moved, renamed, or deleted. This happens because PowerPoint will not be able to find the Excel file’s location.

What Happens To The Excel Table When I Copy My Presentation To Another Computer?

You might want to copy the Presentation you just made to another computer to present it. Either that, or you may need to send it to someone. In that case, the copied PowerPoint file will ask the person who opens it if they want to update the links, but it also preserves the data it had in it last time. So, even in the absence of the linked Excel file, the PowerPoint slide will have data to show.

Image Courtesy:

Plot of y=x2 made in Microsoft Excel by Brews ohare [public domain] via Wikimedia Commons