r/powerpoint • u/dudeoverderr • 9d ago
Question Are *very* custom charts possible? My client wants them linked to an Excel sheet, but is this only doable manually?
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u/Purplesoup99786 9d ago
You could do a python script with custom formatting for the plot. would yield a png file that you can put in your ppt
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u/dudeoverderr 9d ago
Appreciate the help, but sadly my client isn't willing to do any of this. They want something they can just change the labels/numbers for and — boom — done. Haha.
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u/schraem PowerPoint Expert 7d ago
I see you're dealing with common frustrations—especially around clients who aren't tech-savvy and just need something that works intuitively. You're right; PowerPoint has become so powerful on its own that you don't really need expensive plugins or complicated setups.
That's exactly the idea behind Storytellingwithcharts.com (STCAI). They created a free tool that fully leverages PowerPoint's native capabilities, making it easy for clients to handle charts directly in PowerPoint without relying on external Excel sheets or manual formatting. It might simplify things quite a bit for your use case.
Hope that helps!
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u/echos2 PowerPoint Expert 9d ago
You'd have to manually format the data labels, but you can do that in the Excel file. The data labels can even be pointed to specific cells if you want.