How can I best link a specific data table from a worksheet within excel to a powerpoint presentation? The data table is not the only piece of data on the worksheet and there are multiple worksheets with linked calculations on the spreadsheet.

Hi Adrian

Thank you for your question.

The way you could try going about this is to create a new sheet in your Excel file that has a copy of just the data table you wish to display when you use the link to it from the PowerPoint presentation.

If it is not important that the copy of the data table is up-to-date with the rest of the information in the Excel file (as you mention there are links in the Excel file itself also), you can copy the data table, then go to the sheet where you are pasting it, choose Edit - Paste Special. Then choose the Values option and click OK.

If it is important that the ocpy of the data table is up-to-date with the rest of the information in the spreadsheet, then copy the data table, then go to the sheet whre you are pasting it, choose Edit - Paste Special and click Paste Link. This will link the cells you have pasted into with the cells you have copied from, therefore if the figures in the original data table changes, so does the copied version.

The alternative is to use Insert - Object then choose Create from file. This allows you to display the bit of the Excel spreadsheet you want to show on the slide, but data table is also linked to the Excel file as well.

Then Browse to select your Excel file. Once you have selected it then you can tick the Link box and click OK. This will bring in the whole spreadsheet but if you bring up the Picture toolbar, then you can use the Crop tool to 'cut out' the bits of the spreadsheet you don't want showing in the presentation. Then turn off the Crop tool and resize the data table to an appropriate size.

I hope this helps.
Amanda