Copy-pasting charts every month is slow and risky. Link them once.
Paste option
What you get
Use when
Keep Source Formatting & Link Data
A PowerPoint chart whose data stays in the Excel file
Monthly decks from the same workbook
Embed Workbook
A copy of the whole workbook inside the deck
Sending a deck that must work alone (bigger file)
Picture
An image
Final version, nothing should change
Paste Special > Paste link (object)
A linked Excel object
Tables or ranges that must look exactly like Excel
Update
Right-click the chart > Edit Data, or File > Info > Edit Links to Files > Update Now. Tick “Automatic update” to refresh when the deck opens.
In our test PowerPoint pasted the Regions chart as a link to ppt-inter-sales-data.xlsx; we changed North’s sales in Excel to 600, saved, and Update pulled the new value in.
⚠️ Links store the full file path. Rename or move the Excel file (or send the deck by email) and the link breaks; fix it in Edit Links > Change Source. Keep the deck and workbook in the same OneDrive/SharePoint folder.
💡 Before sending to a client, break links (Edit Links > Break Link) or save a PDF, so they don’t get “update links?” prompts or your internal file paths.
Practice
Download the practice deck: the first slide lists the tasks. Use the sales data workbook.
