Present data in a chart or graph

Important If Microsoft Office Excel is installed on your computer, you can take advantage of the advanced charting capabilities in the Microsoft Office system. If Office Excel is not installed when you create a new chart in Microsoft Office Word, Microsoft Graph opens. A chart then appears with its associated data in a table called a datasheet. You can enter your own data in the datasheet, import data from a text file to the datasheet, or paste data from another program to the datasheet.In this article

About charts and graphs in Word

Choose a chart or graph type and insert data

Arrange data for a chart or graph

About charts and graphs in Word

Office Word includes many different types of charts and graphs that you can use to inform your audience about inventory levels, organizational changes, sales figures, and much more. Charts are fully integrated with Office Word. When you have Excel installed, you can create Excel charts in Word by clicking the Chart button on the Ribbon (Insert tab, Illustrations group), and then by using the chart tools to modify or format the chart. Charts that you create will be embedded in Office Word, and the chart data is stored in an Excel worksheet that is incorporated in the Word file.

Note If you work in Compatibility Mode in Word, you can insert a chart by using Microsoft Graph instead of Excel.

You can also copy a chart from Excel to Office Word. When you copy a chart, it can either be embedded as static data or linked to the workbook. For a chart that is linked to a workbook that you have access to, you can specify that it automatically check for changes in the linked workbook whenever the chart is opened.

You can add a chart or graph to your document in one of two ways:

• You can insert a chart in your document by embedding it When you embed data from an Excel chart in Word, you edit that data in Office Excel, and the worksheet is saved with the Word document.
• You can paste an Excel chart into your presentation and link to data in Office Excel When you copy a chart from Office Excel and paste it into your document, the data in the chart is linked to the Excel worksheet. The Excel worksheet is a separate file and is not saved with the Word document. In this case, because the Excel worksheet is not part of the Word document, if you want to change the data in the chart, you must make your changes to the linked worksheet in Office Excel.

A chart in Word that is made up of sample data from an Excel worksheet

Notes:

• For more information about charts, see Overview of charting.
• To learn about the different types of charts that you can add to your document, see Available chart types.

Choose a chart or graph type and insert data

Insert a chart by embedding it in your presentation

Do the following when you want to maintain the data that is associated with the chart in Word:

1. In Word, click where you want to insert the chart.
2. On the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group, click Chart.
3. In the Insert Chart dialog box, click a chart, and then click OK.

   Office Excel opens in a split window and displays sample data on a worksheet.

4. In Excel, replace the sample data by clicking a cell on the worksheet and then typing the data that you want.

   You can also replace the sample axis labels in Column A and the legend entry name in Row 1.

   Note After you update the worksheet, the chart in Word will be updated automatically with the new data.

5. In Excel, click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Save As.
6. In the Save As dialog box, in the Save in list, select the folder or drive that you want to save the worksheet to.

   Tip To save the worksheet to a new folder, click Create New Folder .

7. In the File name box, type a new name for the file.
8. Click Save.
9. In Excel, click the Microsoft Office Button , and then click Close.

Paste an Excel chart into your document and link to data in Excel

You can create an Excel worksheet that links to a Word document. When you update data on the Excel worksheet, the data is also updated in the Word document.

Follow this procedure when you want to link to data on an external Office Excel worksheet. You create and copy the chart in Office Excel and then paste it into your Word document. When you update the data in Office Excel, the chart in Word is updated as well.

1. In Excel, select the chart by clicking its border, and then on the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Cut.

   The chart is removed, but the data remains in Excel.

2. In Word, click where you want to insert the chart in the document.
3. On the Home tab, in the Clipboard group, click Paste.

   The Paste Options button indicates that the chart is linked to data in Excel.

4. Save the Word document with the chart that you linked to data in Excel.

   When you reopen the Word document, click Yes to update the Excel data.

Note You can also create visual representations of information by using SmartArt graphics. For more information, see Create a SmartArt graphic.

Arrange data for a chart or graph

For most charts, such as column and bar charts, you can plot the data that you arrange in rows or columns on an Excel worksheet in a chart. Some chart types, however, such as pie and bubble charts, require a specific data arrangement.