A Free Microsoft Office: Is Office Online Worth Using?

Microsoft’s Office Online is a completely free, web-based version of Microsoft Office. This online office suite is clearly competing with Google Docs, but it’s also a potential replacement for the desktop version of Office.

We’ll compare Office Online to both the desktop version of Microsoft Office and Google Docs to see where it fits. Should you use Office Online instead of Office 2013 or Google Docs?

Office Online vs. Desktop Office

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Unlike all of Microsoft’s other Office products, Office Online at office.com is completely free. This is Office Online’s biggest advantage over desktop versions of Microsoft Office. You can use it on all the PCs you want without paying for additional boxed copies or subscribing to Office 365, Microsoft’s subscription service for Office.

Becausee it’s a web application that runs in your browser, Office Online will run on everything, from Linux PCs and Chromebooks to iPads and Android tablets. It doesn’t require any special plug-in and works in any popular browser, including Firefox, Chrome, and Safari — not just Internet Explorer.

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Office Online saves your documents to your Microsoft OneDrive (formerly known as SkyDrive) storage online. You can use the OneDrive integration in Windows 8.1 or the OneDrive desktop application on previous versions of Windows to sync the documents you create to your computer, getting local copies in Microsoft Office format. Office 2013 saves your documents to OneDrive by default, so Office Online works well as a companion web application. Your documents may already be available in OneDrive.

The web-based version of Office also offers better collaboration features than the desktop-based version of Office does. For example, when you collaborate with other people in the desktop version of Word 2013, only one person can edit the same paragraph at a time. Word Online offers real-time editing that allows multiple people to edit the same paragraph at a time.

Office Online is more limited than Microsoft Office. Microsoft provides Word Online, Excel Online, PowerPoint Online, and OneNote Online. If you depend on other applications, like Microsoft Access, you’re out of luck.

These online applications are also simplified and stripped down. While they offer a similar interface to the desktop version of Office, complete with a ribbon, they have fewer features built in. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, as most people don’t use all of the features available in the desktop Office apps. Want to do a mail merge or run macros? You can’t do that in Office Online, but you probably don’t need those features anyway.

Office Online also won’t work when you don’t have an Internet connection. If you want to edit documents offline, you’ll need the desktop version of Office.

Pros: Office Online is completely free, can easily be accessed from any device, and is better for real-time collaboration.

Cons: Office Online only provides a few popular Office applications, doesn’t have many of the more advanced features, and only works when you have an Internet connection.

Office Online vs. Google Docs

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Google Docs is Google’s free, web-based office suite. Office Online is Microsoft’s response to the rise of Google Docs.

Office Online and Google Docs are fairly similar at this point. Both are free, web-based applications you run in your browser. Both are simplified, stripped-down experiences that save your files to an online storage service — Microsoft OneDrive or Google Drive. Both have built-in real-time collaboration features. Both offer applications for creating documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Google Docs also offers applications for creating forms and drawings, but Office Online offers a full-featured note-taking app in OneNote. Each has a few different features the other doesn’t have, but they’re very similar for average users.

Love it or hate it, Microsoft Office is still basically the standard when it comes to office suites. Office Online feels much more like Microsoft Office than Google Docs does — right down to the ribbon. More importantly, Office Online saves your documents in Microsoft Office file formats like .docx, .xlsx, and .pptx. Office Online should have better compatibility with Microsoft Office files. When you create a file in Office Online, it should look the same in the desktop version of Microsoft Office. Microsoft knows their own file formats, while Google Docs isn’t perfect at dealing with them.

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Google Docs works offline, but Office Online always requires an Internet connection. Despite Microsoft’s Scroogled advertisements, Google Docs has offline support while Office Online doesn’t. Google Docs is compelling if you want to use a free office suite offline as well as online — Microsoft would like you to pay for the desktop version if you’d like to occasionally use it offline.

Pros: Office Online offers native compatibility with Office document formats. It also has a more familiar interface if you’re used to modern, ribbonized versions of Office.

Cons: You can’t edit documents offline with Office Online.

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So, should you use Office Online? Well, that’s up to you. If you’d like a completely free version of Office so you don’t have to pay Microsoft $9.99 a month, it’s a compelling option. On the other hand, you may need the more advanced features in the desktop version of Office. If you’re already using Google Docs, you may want to switch for the better office document compatibility — or you may want to start with Google Docs for the offline support. It’s up to you.

You should give the different applications here a spin and see which one is best for you. Some people need many of the advanced features in Office, while some people just need the basics.

Source: http://www.howtogeek.com/183299/a-free-microsoft-office-is-office-online-worth-using/

How to block the Windows 10 upgrade

Maury was one of several readers who complained about the Windows 10 upgrade starting without user permission.
I have been hearing a lot about this recently. Another reader got to the point where he was scared to boot, assuming that the installation would happen right away.

Even I was a victim. Windows told me I needed to shut down the PC for an update. When I shut down and rebooted, no update happened, but Windows continued to tell me that I needed to shut down. Some detective work clued me in that the Windows 10 upgrade had failed. I had never given permission for the upgrade on this particular computer.



If the Get Windows 10 icon has become either an annoyance or a serious problem, you can easily remove it with Ultimate Outsider’s free and portable GWX Control Panel. You download this program as a single EXE file.

Once it’s up, you might want to look at some of the information on the top part of the program. For instance, I discovered that I had apparently “enabled” both the Get Windows 10 app and the upgrades. I had not.
Click two of the buttons near the bottom, Disable ‘Get Windows 10’ App (permanently remove icon) and Disable Operating System Upgrades in Windows Update.

That’s it—unless the upgrade has already started and you’re stuck with the problem I had. If Windows Update is trying and failing to install Windows 10, run Microsoft’s Windows Update Troubleshooter after you haverun GWX.

Launch and run the wizard. The choices are pretty obvious. In my case, I got a disheartening error that one update problem could not be fixed.

But, when I next booted, the update Shut Down button was no longer there. Since then, Windows 7 updates have happened as they should.

Source: http://www.pcworld.com/article/2998967/windows/how-to-block-the-windows-10-upgrade.html

Send Faxes From the Web: Three Services Tested

Though you might be tempted to ditch your office fax machine, you probably have to send out at least a few faxes every year. Windows lets you fax from the OS itself; but it requires you to use a landline that your small business may not want tied up, and it lacks security and mobile features that your business may need.
Luckily, a number of services can keep you covered even if you don't have a fax machine connected to an old telephone line. I took three Web fax services for a quick test drive. Here's how they fared.

FaxZero

FaxZero

FaxZero is a bare-bones fax service, with no options for receiving faxes or for faxing from your mobile devices. Nevertheless, as long as your fax is less than three pages long and you don't need to send more than five faxes a day, FaxZero is free and doesn't require any type of sign-up process. Just enter your contact information and the fax number you want to send to, and then upload the document you want to send. FaxZero should send your fax in a matter of minutes. When I tested the service with a two-page document, I received a confirmation e-mail about 3 minutes after I pressed Send that my fax was on its way. The fax arrived at its destination moments later.
If you plan to fax a lot of documents, however, FaxZero isn't your best option. It charges $2 for each fax that exceeds three pages in length and for each one beyond the company's limit of five free faxes per day. That isn't much of a burden if only a fax or two each week aren't free, but if you plan to use the service as a replacement to a regularly used fax machine, the overage fees can add up quickly.

MyFax

MyFax

MyFax is a feature-rich fax option that's great for users who need more than an occasional fax machine replacement. The company makes sending even international faxes by email easy; all you have to do is address your fax to @MyFax.com. When you sign up with MyFax you automatically get a fax number in your local area code for receiving incoming faxes. The service automatically converts faxes into PDF files and stores them on MyFaxCentral, the company's easy-to-navigate Web dashboard. When I sent my two-page test document from MyFaxCentral to myself, I received the fax along with a confirmation email message almost immediately after pressing Send. If you don't want to use MyFax's site for some reason, you can arrange for all incoming faxes to go to your email address as well as to five other email addresses you choose. MyFax even has mobile apps available that let you send and receive faxes on the go via your Android or iOS smartphone.
MyFax's base plan, which costs $10 per month, lets you send 100 faxes a month and receive another 200 faxes. If you exceed those limits, the company charges 10 cents per page for the surplus faxes--but it also offers $20-per-month and $40-per-month plans that establish higher send and receive ceilings.

eFax

eFax

eFax offers many of the same features as MyFax. The two companies have almost identical sign-up procedures that involve first picking your free incoming fax number, then tying your account to an email address, and finally providing billing information. eFax's methodology for faxing by email is nearly identical to MyFax's. too. Both companies have Web-based dashboards that support faxing even to international numbers, and both offer Android and iOS mobile apps.

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My test fax with eFax yielded a nearly instantaneous transmission plus an email message confirming that my fax had been sent.
Despite the similarities, eFax has some powerful features that MyFax doesn't. One is that eFax supports digital signatures, which can save you time and trouble if you often have to sign forms and return them via fax. The company also lets you digitally encrypt your faxes for an extra layer of SSL/PGP security over traditional faxing. That feature is particularly important if you work with sensitive information and must comply with regulations such as HIPAA, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, or the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. eFax permanently archives all of your sent and received email messages, too (MyFax deletes older faxes after one month), and it offers storage for files as large as 1GB.
[Related: "Digital Signatures Let You Ditch That Old Fax Machine"]
On the other hand, to use advanced features such as digital signatures, you must download eFax's eFax Messaging Software (Windows or Mac version). The application is fairly easy to work with, but having to open it is a minor hassle. eFax is also significantly more expensive than MyFax: The lowest-level eFax Plus account costs $17 per month for 150 incoming and 150 outgoing faxes a month. The higher-volume rate is $20 per month for 200 incoming and 200 outgoing faxes, for $19.95 per month. A 10-cents-per-page overage fee kicks in if you exceed the limit on either plan.

The Verdict

If you're in a hurry and just want to send occasional short faxes, FaxZero is your best option among these three. It's easy to use, it sends faxes quickly, and it's free. If you need to send longer faxes regularly, however, MyFax probably delivers the best bang for your buck. MyFax's $10-per-month price is significantly lower than eFax's for many of the same features. But if your business requires secure transmissions, eFax may be the way to go, since it allows encrypted faxing. (And as a bonus, it lets you store larger files.)

Source:  http://www.pcworld.com/article/249237/send_faxes_from_the_web_three_services_tested.html

The best desktop office suite, LibreOffice, gets better

The new LibreOffice release has improved its looks and added even more interoperable features.

OK, so maybe Microsoft's Office 2016 for Windows is perfect for Windows 10 users, but for the rest of us, LibreOffice 5.1, the full-featured, open-source office suite, is a better choice.

LibreOffice 5.1 is better than ever.

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I make my living from writing and poring over data in spreadsheets. For me, LibreOffice has long proven to be the best desktop office suite choice.

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This new version offers a reorganized user interface. Unlike Microsoft Office, which long ago embraced the annoying ribbon interface, LibreOffice has stayed with the tried and true menu-based interface that any Microsoft Office 2003 user will recognize at a glance.

What The Document Foundation, LibreOffice's parent organization, has done is reorganize the menus for Writer, Calc, and Impress -- LibreOffice's word processor, spreadsheet, and presentation program. They're designed to provide faster access to the most-used features.

Guess what? It works. I found all three programs to work faster after only a day or two of getting used to the new menus. The trio also got new top-level menu selections -- Writer "Styles;" Calc "Sheet;" and Impress "Slide." These make all three core applications easier to use.

LibreOffice 5.1 has also added integration with remote servers. The supported servers include Alfresco, FTP servers, Google Drive, Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft OneDrive, and WebDAV. This means you can create, edit, and save files to these cloud and Internet services just as easily as if they were on your PC hard drive or local area network. LibreOffice should work with services that supports the open Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS) protocol.

First you'll need to set up a remote service. Once that's done, you can easily access your remote files with the File Menu's "Open a Remote File" and "Save to Remote Server" choices. If you're like me, and you keep a lot of work papers on cloud services, this makes LibreOffice more useful than ever.

The new LibreOffice also comes with improved document format support. Besides its support for Open Document Format (ODF) 1.2, LibreOffice 5.1 also boasts improved compatibility with Microsoft's Office Open XML (OOXML) format, Microsoft Office's default file format. Technically, Microsoft's OOXML format is an ISO standard. Technically.

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In practice, no version of Microsoft Office, including Office 2016 has ever used the "strict" version of the standard. Instead, Office saves documents using a "transitional" version of OOXML by default. As the Document Foundation's Italo Vignoli points out, this is a transition that's been going on nine years. The Document Foundation says this standard tends to change with each new release of Microsoft Office, often in big ways, making it a challenge for LibreOffice to keep up.

For that matter it makes using the same document difficult between Office versions. So, if you think only Microsoft Office can fully support Microsoft Office document formats, think again.

LibreOffice also boasts improvements for importing old Microsoft Office documents in binary formats: DOC, XLS, and PPT files. It also does a better job of importing RTF files and Microsoft Visio projects. The program also now supports importing Microsoft Write (.wri) documents and Apple Keynote 6 (.key) presentations, and Gnumeric spreadsheet files.

LibreOffice 5.1 has also been improved "under the hood," thanks to the work of hundreds of volunteer developers. Besides better file and cloud support, the change you're most likely to notice is that LibreOffice is far faster than before.

Want to see for yourself? LibreOffice 5.1 is totally free, runs on Linux, Mac OS, and Windows and can be downloaded today.

Source: http://www.zdnet.com/article/the-best-desktop-office-suite-libreoffice-gets-better/

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8 Surprising Windows Notepad Tricks You Must Know

We can all agree that the Windows Notepad is basic and usually gets shunted out in favor of feature-filled alternatives. But Notepad is more powerful than it looks and we’ll introduce you to some of its hidden tricks. Soon, you’ll want to keep this ancient Windows program handy at all times by turning Notepad into a sticky note.
Note: These tricks have been around from the time of Windows 7. I have tested all of them on Windows 10 as well. They still work!

 

1. Use Notepad as a Journal

Did you know that you can program Notepad to add a timestamp? This makes it perfect for adding journal entries when you have a few minutes to spare during the day.
To get an automatic timestamp, create a new text document, type in .LOG, and save the file. The next time you open the file, you should see the current date and time appear within it. Hit Enter, start recording your thoughts, and save them. As expected, every time you open the file, a fresh timestamp appears.





If you want to add a quick timestamp on the fly, you could take a shortcut and hit F5 instead. This corresponds to the Time/Date item hidden in the Edit menu.

 

2. Get Line Count

You’d like to view the number of lines in a Notepad document and you know that you’ll have to display the status bar for that. But a quick peek at the View menu shows you that the Status Bar option is grayed out, if you’re not on Windows 10 that is. What do you do now? It’s simple — head to the Format menu and turn off Word Wrap. Now you should be able to display the status bar from the View menu, and once you do, you can see the line count as well.
To jump to a specific line, hit CTRL + G to bring up the Go To Line dialog, type in the line number you’d like to jump to, and hit Enter. This works even if you haven’t displayed the line count, because Notepad’s numbering system is active at all times.



If you’d like to keep the status bar active all the time, i.e. with or without the Word Wrap option disabled, you’ll need to delve into the Windows registry and edit a specific key value. At this point we should warn you that if you tweak the wrong registry setting, it could mess up your Windows installation. To know what you’re getting into, read our guide on how to use the Windows registry and how not to accidentally mess up the registry.
Ready to proceed? Great! Enter regedit into Windows search and hit Enter to open the Registry Editor. Next, look for the following key using the sidebar navigation: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Notepad. Once you have it selected in the sidebar, double-click on StatusBar in the right-side panel. Done? Now in the dialog box that has popped up, change the DWORD value from 0 to 1.

 

3. Add a Header and a Footer

If you want to insert a header and/or a footer into a Notepad document, go to File > Page Setup…. In the dialog box that opens up, look for the Header: and Footer: fields and type in the content that you want to display in the header and footer.



Can’t see the header and footer in the document itself? Don’t worry — that’s how it’s meant to be. Those elements will show up when you print the file.
Since there’s no way to save the header/footer content from the Page Setup dialog, you’ll have to add it manually every time you print the file. Also, you can’t set up different headers and footers in Notepad like you can in Microsoft Word and other word processors.
What’s cool about this Notepad feature is that using a few special commands, you can insert the filename, a timestamp, and page numbers in the header/footer and even align its contents left, right, or center. Here’s a snapshot of the commands you get to use:

For example, if you want to display the current date (&d) and time (&t) on the left (&l) and the file name (&f) on the right (&r) in the header, this is the text that you’ll need to paste into the Header: field: &l&d&t&r&f

 

4. Find the Windows Product Key

The easiest way to retrieve your Windows product key is by looking it up on the printed sticker that you’ll find on some part of your laptop or desktop, usually on the base or at the back. If that sticker is worn out or inaccessible, that’s not a problem. You can still retrieve the key from the Windows registry, as long as you haven’t formatted the hard drive, of course.
To view the product key on your computer screen, you can use a third-party program like Belarc Advisor or even a Visual Basic (VB) script that retrieves the key from the registry. We’ll show you how to create such a script. First, open up a fresh Notepad document and paste in the following bit of code:



Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
MsgBox ConvertToKey(WshShell.RegRead("HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\DigitalProductId"))
Function ConvertToKey(Key)
Const KeyOffset = 52
i = 28
Chars = "BCDFGHJKMPQRTVWXY2346789"
Do
Cur = 0
x = 14
Do
Cur = Cur * 256
Cur = Key(x + KeyOffset) + Cur
Key(x + KeyOffset) = (Cur \ 24) And 255
Cur = Cur Mod 24
x = x -1
Loop While x >= 0
i = i -1
KeyOutput = Mid(Chars, Cur + 1, 1) & KeyOutput
If (((29 - i) Mod 6) = 0) And (i <> -1) Then
i = i -1
KeyOutput = "-" & KeyOutput
End If
Loop While i >= 0
ConvertToKey = KeyOutput
End Function


Now save the file using the extension .vbs (instead of .txt). And that’s the VB script that will give you the product key when you run it! To run the script, double-click on the .vbs file that you just created and saved. You’ll then see a popup window with your product key. Hit CTRL + C if you’d like to copy the key.

 

5. Test Your Antivirus Software

Want to find out if your computer’s antivirus program is working okay? You can use what is known as the EICAR test file to do the checking for you. Don’t worry, that’s not a virus-laden file we’re unleashing on your computer. It’s a simple text file that you’ll be creating in Notepad, with the following piece of harmless code saved to it:
X5O!P%@AP[4\PZX54(P^)7CC)7}$EICAR-STANDARD-ANTIVIRUS-TEST-FILE!$H+H*
Your virus scanner should pick this file up as a virus and deal with it accordingly. If it does, it’s a sign that the antivirus program is working as expected. Of course, this does not guarantee that you’re protected from all viruses.

 

6. Create a Password-protected Folder

With this trick, the idea is to create a deceptive file that you can use to unlock and reveal a secret folder as and when you need it.
To begin with, create a new Notepad document and paste this code into it:


cls
@ECHO OFF
title Folder Private
if EXIST "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" goto UNLOCK
if NOT EXIST Private goto MDLOCKER
:CONFIRM
echo Are you sure you want to lock the folder(Y/N)
set/p "cho=>"
if %cho%==Y goto LOCK
if %cho%==y goto LOCK
if %cho%==n goto END
if %cho%==N goto END
echo Invalid choice.
goto CONFIRM
:LOCK
ren Private "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"
attrib +h +s "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"
echo Folder locked
goto End
:UNLOCK
echo Enter password to unlock folder
set/p "pass=>"
if NOT %pass%== your_password goto FAIL
attrib -h -s "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}"
ren "Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D}" Private
echo Folder Unlocked successfully
goto End
:FAIL
echo Invalid password
goto end
:MDLOCKER
md Private
echo Private created successfully
goto End
:End


Replace your_password in the code above with a password of your choice and save the file as a Batch file named locker.bat. I’ll digress a bit here to point out that you can automate various repetitive tasks with Batch files.
When you run the locker.bat file (by double-clicking on it) for the first time, it creates a folder named Private in the same location as the .bat file. This folder is where you can stash away any files and folders that you’d like to keep to yourself.
Now run the locker.bat file again. This asks you whether you want to lock the file. Hit Y, followed by Enter to confirm. You’ll see that the Private folder is no longer visible.





To access the folder again, run locker.bat and when prompted, enter your password (the one you added to the code while saving the .bat file). If you have forgotten the password, drag and drop the locker.bat file into Notepad to view the password.
This trick is fun, but it’s not foolproof — anyone who knows where to look and what to tweak can find the secret folder with ease. To display the secret folder yourself without running locker.bat, go to Folder Options > View and…

• …uncheck the box next to Hide protected operating system files,
• check the radio button for Show hidden files, folders, and drives.

The folder might show up with the name Control Panel.{21EC2020-3AEA-1069-A2DD-08002B30309D} instead of Private.

 

7. Remove Formatting from Text Snippets

Copy-pasting text snippets from one app to another comes with the problem of messed-up formatting. It’s better to paste in unformatted text and then format it using styles from the app that you’re pasting into.
To do so, you’ll first need to strip the formatting from the copied text. The quickest way to do that? Use CTRL + SHIFT + V to paste unformatted text directly or, you could first paste the text into Notepad, which supports only plain text, and copy-paste it from there.
Of course, that’s just one way to strip formatting when you copy-paste text.

8. Make Your Computer Speak

You can get your computer to read a piece of text to you with a simple VB script that we’ll create using Notepad. Begin with a new document and paste in the code given below:
Dim message, sapi
message=InputBox("Repeat after me")
Set sapi=CreateObject("sapi.spvoice")
sapi.Speak message


Use the File > Save As command to save the file with the extension .vbs. Now when you open the saved file, you’ll get a dialog box with a blank text field. Type in something for your computer to read aloud and hit OK. You’ll also want to take a look at these five other ways to get your Windows computer to read to you.
In the code above, you can replace the text Repeat after me with a message of your choice and that is what you’ll see as a prompt in the dialog box when you run the script.

Notepad Magic

Who knew Notepad was capable of all these tricks? It has stayed more or less the same over the years, but it has turned out to be cooler than we thought.
Do you have a Notepad trick or two up your sleeve? Share it with us!Source: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/8-surprising-windows-notepad-tricks-must-know/

Improve Your PowerPoint Presentation with Excel Data Visualizations

Ready to present your findings? Find out how to visualize your data using Excel and PowerPoint.

We’ve all sat through boring PowerPoint presentations at one point or another, and they’re no fun. You can use countless ways to liven things up and something as simple as a chart made with Excel can go a long way.

Here’s everything you need to know about creating a data visualization in Excel and exporting that content directly to a PowerPoint presentation — you might be surprised by just how easy it is.

Prepare Your Data

The first step to a professional chart is ensuring that we have all the necessary data arranged correctly. The following section will show you how to do just that for all the most common types of data visualization produced with Excel.

Column, Bar, Line, and Area Charts

The data for these charts doesn’t require much processing, just ensure that your data is separated into columns or rows, and properly labelled. These two examples below demonstrate that you can use either a vertical or horizontal layout for your data.

Pie and Doughnut Charts

For a single data series, lay out your data in one column or row, with labels in a separate column or row.

If you’re charting more than one data series using a doughnut chart, just add another column or row containing the additional figures. Giving each series a label isn’t mandatory, but it will help you keep track of your information.

Scatter and Bubble Charts

For scatter charts, place your data for the X and Y axes in adjacent columns.

For a bubble chart, include what size you want individual bubbles to be in a further adjacent column.

Create Your Chart

Next, we’re going to create the chart in Excel — my example will  be a pie chart about pies, but the same concepts will apply no matter what kind of visualization you’re aiming for.

Above, you can see that I’ve arranged my data in the correct format for a pie chart and highlighted the entire selection. With that done, it’s time to head to theInsert tab and click the pop-out button on the Charts section.

The resulting window is split into two tabs; recommended charts and all charts. The former option is helpful if you’re not sure what’s the best way to visualize your data, but otherwise you can simply pick the correct option from the full list. The All Charts tab offers up lots more options, so it’s really worth poring through the list to find the most appropriate chart.

Once you’ve selected your desired option, Excel will create a basic version of the chart — but it’s likely that you’ll want to make some edits for yourself.

First, let’s change that title to something a little bit more informative. All we need to do is click the text once to select the text box, and another to drop our cursor into it so that we can make edits.

Next, let’s take a look at the three icons that show up on the edge of our chart when we click on it. The box with a plus symbol helps us adjust Chart Elements, like its title and its legend. Marking the checkbox confirms that these elements should be included, while clicking the small arrow will offer up some more in-depth options.

The paintbrush icon lets us adjust the chart’s color scheme, either choosing from pre-made styling templates or picking out individual shades. I’m not completely happy with the default color palette, so I’m swapping it out for a monochromatic chart.

The third icon allows us to filter the data that goes into the chart, which is particularly handy if you’re working with more than one series. However, there are plenty of other uses — below, I’ve used the tool to quickly create a chart that only looks at dessert pies.

Once you’re all set with these adjustments, we can export the chart into PowerPoint.

Transfer Your Chart to PowerPoint

Exporting your chart from Excel to PowerPoint is as easy as copying and pastingit across — but there are a couple of pitfalls to avoid. Select your chart in Excel by clicking on the background, making sure that you’re not accidentally selecting a particular element, then use CTRL + C to copy the data to your clipboard. You can also right-click on its background to copy from the context menu.

Once this is done, open up PowerPoint and navigate to the slide that you want the chart to appear on. Use CTRL + V to paste the chart in place.

However, there’s one more step to complete if you want to do the job properly. While the chart might already look correct, now’s the time to make an important decision about how it’s placed in the presentation.

This small dropdown will help you decide if your chart is linked to the Excel spreadsheet it’s based on, a straightforward way of making your data available to viewers. Choosing one of the options featuring the phrase Link Data will link your visualization to the spreadsheet, whereas those that feature the phraseEmbed Workbook will make that document available as part of the presentation itself.

You can also opt to paste the chart as a picture, but this doesn’t offer any of the same fact-checking benefits as the other two. Once you’ve made this selection, you’re free to integrate the visualization into your presentation however you see fit.

Visualize It to Realize It

It’s not difficult to turn data from an Excel spreadsheet into a chart for your PowerPoint presentation — but this kind of visualization can really help your audience digest the information.

Microsoft has gone to great lengths to make its Office suite work as a cohesive unit, so using individual programs in tandem can produce great result. Just consider the strengths of each of its component parts; PowerPoint is great for presenting to an audience, but working with data is definitely a job for Excel.

While this guide put the focus on PowerPoint, you can use the exact same method to export charts to other programs in the Office suite — keep that in mind next time you want to include a visualization in an essay written in Word, or add it to your OneNote notebook.

Do you have more questions about using Excel charts in your PowerPoint presentation? Or are you confident enough to offer help to other users? Either way, head to the comments section below to join the discussion.

Source: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/improve-powerpoint-presentation-excel-data-visualizations/