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If you are using PowerPoint 2013 or a newer version, you can link data from a saved Excel worksheet to your PowerPoint presentation. That way, if data in the worksheet changes, you can easily update it in your PowerPoint presentation.

Link an entire Excel worksheet to PowerPoint

  1. In PowerPoint, on the Insert tab, click or tap Object.

    object selection on insert tab

  2. In the Insert Object dialog box, select Create from file.

    file browse dialog box

  3. Click or tap Browse, and in the Browse box, find the Excel workbook with the data you want to insert and link to.

  4. Before you close the Insert Object box, select Link, and click OK.

    choosing link for inserting a file into powerpoint

    Important: The linked object in your presentation displays all the data from the active, top worksheet in the linked Excel workbook. When you save the Excel workbook, make sure the worksheet you want in your presentation is the one you see when you first open the workbook.

Link a section of data in Excel to PowerPoint

  1. In Excel, open the saved workbook with the data you want to insert and link to.

  2. Drag over the area of data you want to link to in PowerPoint, and on the Home tab, click or tap Copy.

  3. In PowerPoint, click the slide where you want to paste the copied worksheet data.

  4. On the Home tab, click the arrow below Paste, and select Paste Special.

    show paste special option

  5. In the Paste Special box, click Paste link, and then, under As, select Microsoft Excel Worksheet Object.

    shows pasting file as link dialog

Update linked Excel data in PowerPoint

After you've used one of the methods described above to insert linked Excel data into a presentation, then refreshing the presentation to stay up to date with data changes is easy to do: 

  • In PowerPoint, right-click the data and select Update Link.

Copy and paste (unlinked) Excel data in PowerPoint

In this case, the Excel data will not be linked to your PowerPoint presentation. You copy the data from an Excel worksheet and paste it into your presentation. The worksheet does not send automatic updates to PowerPoint.

  1. In Excel, open the workbook with the data you want to copy.

  2. Drag over the area of data you want to copy, and on the Home tab, click or tap Copy.

  3. In PowerPoint, click the slide where you want to paste the copied worksheet data.

  4. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click the arrow below Paste.

  5. Under Paste Options, pick one of the following. Move the mouse pointer over each Paste option to see a preview of what it would look like.

    Use Destination Styles

    Use Destination Styles to copy the data as a PowerPoint table, using the format of the presentation

    Keep Source Formatting

    Keep Source Formatting to copy the Excel data as a PowerPoint table, using the format of the worksheet

    Embed

    Embed to copy the data as information that can be edited in Excel later

    Picture to copy the data as a picture that can't be edited in Excel

    Keep Text Only

    Keep Text Only to copy all the data as a single text box

See Also

Copy an Excel chart to another Office program

Mail merge in PowerPoint

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