Sometimes, you wish to include the data on an Excel spreadsheet in a Microsoft PowerPoint discussion. There are a couple of methods to do this, depending on whether you want to preserve a connection with the source Excel sheet. Let’s take a look.

What’s the Difference Between Linking and Embedding?

You really have 3 options for consisting of a spreadsheet in a PowerPoint presentation. The very first is by just copying that data from the spreadsheet, and after that pasting it into the target document. This works alright, however all it really does is convert the information to a basic table in PowerPoint. You can use PowerPoint’s basic table formatting tools on it, but you can’t utilize any of Excel’s functions after the conversion.

While that can be helpful often, your other 2 choices– linking and embedding– are far more effective, and are what we’re going to show you how to do in this post. Both are pretty similar, in that you end up inserting a real Excel spreadsheet in your target discussion. It will appear like an Excel sheet, and you can utilize Excel’s tools to control it. The distinction comes in how these two choices treat their connection to that initial Excel spreadsheet:

There are benefits to both techniques, naturally. One advantage of linking a document (other than maintaining the connection) is that it keeps your PowerPoint presentation’s file size down, since the information is mostly still kept in the Excel sheet and only displayed in PowerPoint. One downside is that the original spreadsheet file requires to stay in the same location. If it does not, you’ll need to connect it once again. And given that it depends on the link to the initial spreadsheet, it’s not so useful if you require to distribute the presentation to individuals who do not have access to that area.

Embedding that data, on the other hand, increases the size of presentation, since all that Excel information is actually embedded into the PowerPoint file. There are some distinct advantages to embedding, however. For instance, if you’re dispersing that presentation to people who might not have access to the original Excel sheet, or if the discussion needs to show that Excel sheet at a particular moment (instead of getting updated), embedding (and breaking the connection to the initial sheet) makes more sense.

So, with all that in mind, let’s take a look at how to link and embed an Excel Sheet in Microsoft PowerPoint.

How to Link or Embed an Excel Worksheet in Microsoft PowerPoint

Connecting or embedding an Excel worksheet into a PowerPoint discussion is in fact quite uncomplicated, and the procedure for doing either is almost identical. Start by opening both the Excel worksheet and the PowerPoint presentation you want to edit at the very same time.

In Excel, select the cells you want to link or embed. If you want to link or embed the whole worksheet, click on package at the point of the rows and columns in the leading left-hand corner to choose the entire sheet.

Copy those cells by pressing CTRL+C in Windows or Command+C in macOS. You can also right-click any selected cell, and then choose the “Copy” alternative on the context menu.

Now, change to your PowerPoint discussion and click to position the insertion point where you would like the connected or embedded material to go. On Home tab of the Ribbon, click the down arrow underneath the “Paste” button, and after that pick the “Paste Special” command from the dropdown menu.

This opens the Paste Special window. And it’s here where you’ll discover the only functional various in the procedures of connecting or embedding a file.

If you want to embed your spreadsheet, choose the “Paste” alternative over left wing. If you want to link your spreadsheet, choose the “Paste Link” option instead. Seriously, that’s it. This procedure is otherwise similar.

Whichever choice you choose, you’ll next pick the “Microsoft Excel Worksheet Object” in package to the right, and after that click the “OKAY” button.

And you’ll see your Excel sheet (or the cells you chosen) in your PowerPoint discussion.

If you linked the Excel information, you can’t edit it directly in PowerPoint, but you can double-click anywhere on it to open the original spreadsheet file. And any updates you make to that initial spreadsheet are then reflected in your PowerPoint presentation.

If you embedded the Excel data, you can edit it straight in PowerPoint. Double-click throughout the spreadsheet and you’ll remain in the same PowerPoint window, however the PowerPoint Ribbon gets replaced by the Excel Ribbon and you can access all the Excel functionality. It’s kind of cool.

And when you wish to stop editing the spreadsheet and go back to your PowerPoint controls, simply click anywhere outside the spreadsheet.