How can I copy excel chart to Powerpoint and ungroup it?

[MoC]

A long time ago I think I could copy charts made in Excel into Powerpoint and
completely ungroup each chart and edit them (delete some elements, move
others etc).
When I try this now, it behaves like a non-ungroupable object, although one
can change the colour of bars etc using powerpoint controls.

I have tried looking it up in Help but no options that look like what I'm
asking appear/they use terms I don't recognise as what I need.
I am using Office 2007 editions of these programmes.
Thanks

[Steve Rindsberg]

In article <B0E4A7A5-0D0B-48EF...@microsoft.com>, MoC wrote:
> A long time ago I think I could copy charts made in Excel into Powerpoint and
> completely ungroup each chart and edit them (delete some elements, move
> others etc).
> When I try this now, it behaves like a non-ungroupable object, although one
> can change the colour of bars etc using powerpoint controls.

This has indeed changed in PPT 2007. Here's the workaround:

Select the chart then press Ctrl+C to copy it.
Then on the Home tab of the ribbon bar click the down-arrow beneath Paste and
choose Paste Special and pick Enhanced Metafile as the paste type.

You'll be able to ungroup the pasted graphic

-----------------------------------------
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================

[Blastboy88]

PPT 2007 does not ungroup all of the chart like PPT 2003. You can ungroup
some of the axis lines and labels, but the main image comes in as a bitmap
image. Before in 2003, you could ungroup everything. If anyone else knows of
a way to ungroup everything like it was in PPT 2003, please share. This
change is very frustrating and disappointing.

[Steve Rindsberg]

In article <489273EC-3B11-4F85...@microsoft.com>, Blastboy88 wrote:
> PPT 2007 does not ungroup all of the chart like PPT 2003. You can ungroup
> some of the axis lines and labels, but the main image comes in as a bitmap
> image.

Arghhh. You're right.

[Beau]

I've been having this problem ever since "upgrading" to Office 2007. For this
reason alone, I keep a copy of Excel 2003 installed on my computer.

For less important work (for me) like presentations I use Excel 2007 charts,
as they come with a bunch of pretty formats (shadows, 3D etc.) that Excel
2003 lacks. However, for important work like preparing journal
publication-quality charts, I'll plot the chart in Excel 2003, copy it and
paste-special-EMF into MS Visio, where I can completely ungroup all
components of the chart and tweak the formatting exactly how I want.
Ungrouped Excel 2007 charts cannot be as easily tweaked because typically the
data components (bars, columns etc.) ungroup into freeform objects which
cannot be further ungrouped. There's no solution to this problem that I've
been able to find so until MS fixes this (FIX IT MS!!!!) I'm gonna have to
stick with using Excel 2003 in addition to Excel 2007.

[Echo S]

Trust me, they're aware of this issue, as many of us here struggle with the
exact same thing. When and if it will be *fixed,* however, is another
question entirely! (In other words, we feel your pain and also hope MS fixes
the ungrouping issues in PPT/Excel 2007.)

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://tinyurl.com/36grcd
PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/32a7nx

"Beau" <Be...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:1E27BD77-62E5-4E27...@microsoft.com...

[basemrg]

When I ungroup the charts from the Enhanced Metafile format, each bar in my
bar graph has a think box (about 1.5 pt weight) around it and I cant seem to
reduce the weight. Is there any trick to this or is the only solution to
delete these boxes and then add an outline around the bars?

[Steve Rindsberg]

In article <BD10DB92-43FF-4156...@microsoft.com>, Basemrg wrote:
> When I ungroup the charts from the Enhanced Metafile format, each bar in my
> bar graph has a think box (about 1.5 pt weight) around it and I cant seem to
> reduce the weight. Is there any trick to this or is the only solution to
> delete these boxes and then add an outline around the bars?

Sometimes you need to ungroup multiple times to get things to the point where you
can select the individual bits you want to modify. Give that a try and let us
know how it works out.

==============================
PPT Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.pptfaq.com/

PPTools add-ins for PowerPoint
http://www.pptools.com/

[basemrg]

They've been upgrouped as much as possible. These "borders" are actually
boxes with 1.5pt borders and no color filling layered on top of the colored
boxes of the bar graphs. (I am working with one dimensional horizontal and
vertical bar charts, containing multiple categories and miltiple series that
we're made in 2003.) One thing I've noticed is that when I ungroup these
2003 charts I get the categories AND series ungrouped. But, when I make
charts in the new 2007 version, and then paste special, metafile I can't seem
to get the SERIES to ungroup.

[Echo S]

Hm. I can't repro the lines. What style of chart are you using? That is, how
is it formatted before you ungroup it?

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://tinyurl.com/36grcd
PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/32a7nx

"basemrg" <bas...@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:C443D23A-350E-42E6...@microsoft.com...

[Steve Rindsberg]

I see what you mean and can repro here. I know this has been reported to MS so
they're aware of it; I was hoping it'd be fixed in SP2 but unfortunately it hasn't.

If you have Corel Draw, you can paste as EMF into it, ungroup all then choose a series
and use Break Curve Apart to convert it into individually editable shapes.

[Echo S]

I can't repro. What formatting are you guys using for the chart?

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://tinyurl.com/36grcd
PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/32a7nx

"Steve Rindsberg" <ab...@localhost.com> wrote in message
news:VA.00004cc...@localhost.com...

[Steve Rindsberg]

My "repro" was the inability to ungroup the bars to the point where I could
individually set the borders.

For that, I just inserted a chart, chose the one at top left (basic column
chart) and accepted all the defaults.

If I copy/PasteSpecial/WMF or EMF the result, I can ungroup it to a point but
each series of bars is a single object; can't bust it down to the individual
bars and modify each.

Interesting though ... if I format the series to give it a border, THEN when I
ungroup, the borders and columns become separate objects, and each column (or
its border) is individually selectable.

Still haven't figured out how to get ungroupable grid lines, tick marks etc.

[Echo S]

Okay, but I thought the part of the question I was trying to answer was why
the borders couldn't be made less than 1.5 pts. I can't even GET borders (by
default), so I'm asking what you guys are doing to even get to that
point....

Did I miss something obvious?

--
Echo [MS PPT MVP] http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007? http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances http://tinyurl.com/36grcd
PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit http://tinyurl.com/32a7nx

"Steve Rindsberg" <ab...@localhost.com> wrote in message

news:VA.00004cd...@localhost.com...

[Steve Rindsberg]

In article <OrVHbpfy...@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl>, Echo S wrote:
> Okay, but I thought the part of the question I was trying to answer was why
> the borders couldn't be made less than 1.5 pts.

As in "... in the first place, so as to obviate the need for ungrouping in the
second place"? That's a good question.

> I can't even GET borders (by
> default), so I'm asking what you guys are doing to even get to that
> point....
>
> Did I miss something obvious?

Just looking at it from a different perch, I guess.

I ASS+U+MEd or assumed, one or the other, that OP'd received the charts from
elsewhere and had to whip 'em into publication-ready shape. IOW, that the
borders weren't necessarily a default but something deliberately set by another
user.

[Steve Rindsberg]

In article <OrVHbpfy...@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl>, Echo S wrote:

> Okay, but I thought the part of the question I was trying to answer was why
> the borders couldn't be made less than 1.5 pts. I can't even GET borders (by
> default), so I'm asking what you guys are doing to even get to that
> point....

[discussion backstage ensues]

So it annoys me that ungrouping is so much more difficult and less useful than
it should be, and I seem to've dragged the thread off into the weeds over that.

As Echo's pointed out to me, the problem is the outline.

And maybe the solution's got nothing to do with ungrouping and everything to do
with getting rid of or changing the outline. So ....

Repro:
Add a chart. Again, I made mine the first one, uppper left in the selection
pane, plain column chart.

Accept the default data, close Excel, voila, we have a chart in PPT.

Rightclick one of the bars, choose "Format Data Series" from the popup.

Choose Border Color on left, pick Solid Line, assign a color. Leave Xparency
at 0%.

Choose Boder Styles on left, give it a width of 2 points or more, just so it's
nice and obvious.

Close the dialog box.

We have outlines on our columns.

So instead of fretting over the @#*$&^*^^^ ungrouping "improvements", removing
the outline from the original chart might be The Right Thing To Do.