Chapter 15: Incorporating Data from Other Programs


As you have already seen, PowerPoint contains an assortment of tools for creating various types of objects: charts, WordArt, SmartArt diagrams, clip art, and so on. You have also learned how to place graphics into PowerPoint from a saved file, how to embed Excel charts on slides, and how to borrow slides from other PowerPoint presentations and outlines from Word or other text editors.

However, a lot of other objects don't fall into any of these categories, so PowerPoint doesn't have a special command for bringing in exactly that type of object. Examples include a flow chart from a program like Microsoft Visio, a slide from a different presentation application, some records from a database, or a map from a mapping program.

This chapter looks at the various ways to import and create content from other applications in PowerPoint, as well as how to export PowerPoint objects for use in other programs.

Working with External Content: An Overview

There are several ways to bring content from other programs into your presentation. The method you choose depends on how you want the content to behave once it arrives. You can make the inserted content a full citizen of the presentation-that is, with no ties to its native application or data file-or you can help it retain a connection to its original application (called embedding) or to its original data file (called linking).

The simplest way to import content into PowerPoint is to use the Copy and Paste commands. For text-type data from most applications, this results in the incoming data integrating itself with PowerPoint without retaining any connection to the source. For example, you can select some cells from an Excel worksheet, and then click Copy on the Home tab to copy them to the Clipboard. Then in PowerPoint you can paste them by clicking Paste, and the Excel cells become a PowerPoint table. You can also do the same thing with drag-and-drop from one application to the other.

Caution 

Not all data types exhibit the behavior described here. With some source data types, especially types that are more graphical than text-based, copy-and-paste results in an embedded object that will open its native application for editing. For example, when you copy and paste a chart from Excel, it is by default linked.

Another choice is to embed the data. You can do this for existing or new data. Embedding it maintains the relationship between that data and its native application, so that you can double-click it to edit it with that native application later. To embed existing data, you copy the data to the Clipboard, use the Paste button's menu to select Paste Special, and then choose the appropriate data type from the list. For example, suppose you want to be able to edit the pasted cells in Excel later. You can use Paste Special and choose Microsoft Excel Worksheet Object as the type. (More on this shortly.)

To embed new data, you use the Object button on the Insert tab, and then choose to create a new embedded object of the desired type. (More on this shortly too.) For example, suppose you have a favorite program for creating organization charts. You can start a new embedded organization chart on a PowerPoint slide instead of using PowerPoint's own SmartArt hierarchy chart. That organization chart is then stored only within your PowerPoint file, not separately.

Yet another choice is to link the data from its original source file. When you do this, PowerPoint maintains information about the name and location of the original, and each time you open the presentation file it rechecks the original to see if any changes have been made to the original data file. If so, PowerPoint updates its copy of the object to the latest version. For example, suppose you want to include data from an Excel workbook that a coworker is creating. He warns you that his data is not final yet, but you want to create the presentation anyway. By creating a link to his data, rather than pasting a static copy of it, you ensure that you will always have the latest data no matter how many times he changes it.

You can create a link to an entire file or to a specific part of a file. For example, you can link to the entire Excel workbook, or just to a certain range of cells on a certain sheet. The procedures are different-for the entire file you use Object (Insert tab), but for a portion of the file you use Paste Special (Home tab). Both methods create a link to the entire Excel workbook, but Object automatically displays the entire first sheet of the workbook in your PowerPoint file, whereas Paste Special displays only the cells that you've selected.




Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 Bible
Microsoft Powerpoint 2007 Bible
ISBN: 0470144939
EAN: 2147483647
Year: 2007
Pages: 268
Authors: Faithe Wempen

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