How-to feature:
Charts in PowerPoint? Easy, automatic updates to charts are a snap

PowerPoint, communication tool of choice in many settings, has long replaced overhead transparencies, flip charts, and 16mm presentations in offering clear visual information to small and large audiences. For process improvement professionals, PowerPoint is an invaluable aid, but has had its limitations when it comes to offering real-time--or even the most current--process charts. Those limitations are a thing of the past for those who create charts in SQCpack EZ or CHARTrunner format.

Linking charts to the PowerPoint presentation assures that the most recent charts are indeed displayed—not charts created last week or last month as the visual presentation was being prepared. “Your presentation will be timely in every sense,” says PQ Systems development manager Steve Daum.

The key lies in linking, rather than inserting charts, to the PowerPoint presentation. "If you simply insert a chart, the image will not update in PowerPoint even after an updated chart has been created by SQCpack EZ or CHARTrunner. But if the chart has been linked, you can be sure that you have the most current version of the chart.

To assure that a linked chart will be updated in the PowerPoint file, create a Workspace (remembering that Workspaces are at the bottom of the lists of charts in the software). To create a Workspace, use this table:

By giving the Workspace the same name as the presentation, you will easily be able to keep track of which Workspace goes with which PowerPoint presentation. Generating new images for the presentation can be done by right-clicking on the appropriate Workspace in CHARTrunner or SQCpack EZ, then selecting "Save all charts as images to specified folder."

The specified folder must exist on the computer that is used to create and display the PowerPoint presentation. While one can use any of the software's image types in PowerPoint, "EMF-Windows Enhanced Metafile" images are suggested. This type of image resizes well to fit the space allocated on a specific slide. For each chart image to be displayed in the presentation, a Link to File must be inserted. Select Insert>Picture>From File, browse to the folder containing the chart images (e.g., C:\Charts\Presentation1), select the appropriate image file (e.g., MyChart1.emf), and select Link to File from the selection button at the lower right of the "Insert Picture" window.

In a sense, CHARTrunner or SQCpack EZ have freed you from the shackles of continuous cut-and-paste to assure up-to-date charts in PowerPoint. Live free!

To learn more about these products, go to www.pqsystems.com or call PQ Systems at 800 777-3020.

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