Excel chart in InDesign (Win)

[b***@gmail.com]

Anyone have any more suggestions on this? I'm trying to automate 50-100 charts but all i see is pp/excel ---> pdf ----> Illustrator ----> ID

I don't care what format but is there a way to automate charts in ID?

I can create csv or tab deliminated as inputs if necessary.

[Helpful Harry]

Post by b***@gmail.com
Anyone have any more suggestions on this? I'm trying to automate 50-100
charts but all i see is pp/excel ---> pdf ----> Illustrator ----> ID
I don't care what format but is there a way to automate charts in ID?
I can create csv or tab deliminated as inputs if necessary.

I don't know an easy way to import Excel charts, but why are you going via
Illustrator? InDesign can import PDFs directly.

You could try these links from Google:

Getting a chart from Excel to InDesign - YouTube

Import Excel data, charts, graphs | InDesign 2.x, CS, CS2
<http://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/kb/import-excel-data-charts-graphs.html>

Charts & Graphics from MS Office to InDesign » Creative Progression

<http://www.creativeprogression.com/charts-graphics-from-ms-office-to-indesign/>

Helpful Harry :o)

[b***@gmail.com]

Post by Helpful Harry

Post by b***@gmail.com
Anyone have any more suggestions on this? I'm trying to automate 50-100
charts but all i see is pp/excel ---> pdf ----> Illustrator ----> ID
I don't care what format but is there a way to automate charts in ID?
I can create csv or tab deliminated as inputs if necessary.

I don't know an easy way to import Excel charts, but why are you going via
Illustrator? InDesign can import PDFs directly.
Getting a chart from Excel to InDesign - YouTube
http://youtu.be/tyBNpBbMcI0
Import Excel data, charts, graphs | InDesign 2.x, CS, CS2
<http://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/kb/import-excel-data-charts-graphs.html>
Charts & Graphics from MS Office to InDesign » Creative Progression
<http://www.creativeprogression.com/charts-graphics-from-ms-office-to-indesign/>
Helpful Harry :o)

Thank you Harry for the information. The pdf is for Vectors which allow for very high resolution. I'm not sure why illustrator before ID. It's just what i've seen people do, such as the youtube link. I'm going to try that and see if it's still vector.

I'm not tied to excel so the chart we used up to this point were created in illustrator. I need to mimick them as much as possible. I'll try the pdf to ID option as well if I can get the Excel graph to look right.

[Helpful Harry]

Post by Helpful Harry

Post by b***@gmail.com
Anyone have any more suggestions on this? I'm trying to automate 50-100
charts but all i see is pp/excel ---> pdf ----> Illustrator ----> ID
I don't care what format but is there a way to automate charts in ID?
I can create csv or tab deliminated as inputs if necessary.

I don't know an easy way to import Excel charts, but why are you going
via Illustrator? InDesign can import PDFs directly.
Getting a chart from Excel to InDesign - YouTube

Import Excel data, charts, graphs | InDesign 2.x, CS, CS2
<http://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/kb/import-excel-data-charts-graphs.ht=

ml>=20

Post by Helpful Harry
Charts & Graphics from MS Office to InDesign =BB Creative Progression
<http://www.creativeprogression.com/charts-graphics-from-ms-office-to-ind=

esign/>
Thank you Harry for the information. The pdf is for Vectors which allow
for very high resolution.

Creating a PDF may not mean you get vector graphics - it depends on the
application being used and the software used to create the PDF. For
example, on my old computer here, using Mac OS X's built-in "print to PDF"
converts anything more difficult than standard text into bitmap imagery.
:o(

I'm not sure why illustrator before ID. It's just what i've seen people
do, such as the youtube link. I'm going to try that and see if it's still
vector.

Just opening the PDF into Ilustrator and re-saving it won't do anything to
change bitmap images to vector images, nor the other way around. In fact
it won't do anything useful (other than perhaps remove some excess
Microsoft created garbage in the document), which is why it's just a
wasted step as far as I can see.

The exception could be if you're using Illustrator to convert the Excel
PDFs into CMYK colours for proper printing, but even then InDesign has the
oiption of converting images when creating the final PDF (although I
haven't checked to see if that includes imported PDFs).

The only other reason I can think of for opening the PDFs in Illustrator
is if you need to make some editing tweaks (e.g. adjusting the colours
from Excel into corporate specific colours).

I'm not tied to excel so the chart we used up to this point were created in
illustrator. I need to mimick them as much as possible. I'll try the pdf
to ID option as well if I can get the Excel graph to look right.

Creating the charts in Illustrator is probably a better idea. For simple
bar / column charts I just create them directly in InDesign itself. Once
I've created one I can group all the elements, and then copy / paste it
where ever I need another bar / column chart and simply alter the length
of the bars / columns or height of the columns. Of course, this isn't
"live" data which automatically updates, but then neither are charts from
Excel or illustrator.

Using Excel (or Apple's Numbers on a Mac) does make making charts easier
... although the newer versions of Excel actually make it more difficult
than it used to be. :o(

There is evidently a plug-in for InDesign to create charts, but it's aimed
at professional print / design companies and costs a whopping US$3,000!!

If you're only needing fairly simple pie charts, then there is this free
plug-in for InDesign CS4 or CS5.
<http://www.indiscripts.com/post/2010/06/claquos2-pie-chart-builder-for-indesign>


Helpful Harry :o)

[b***@gmail.com]

Post by Helpful Harry

Post by Helpful Harry

Post by b***@gmail.com
Anyone have any more suggestions on this? I'm trying to automate 50-100
charts but all i see is pp/excel ---> pdf ----> Illustrator ----> ID
I don't care what format but is there a way to automate charts in ID?
I can create csv or tab deliminated as inputs if necessary.

I don't know an easy way to import Excel charts, but why are you going
via Illustrator? InDesign can import PDFs directly.
Getting a chart from Excel to InDesign - YouTube
http://youtu.be/3DtyBNpBbMcI0
Import Excel data, charts, graphs | InDesign 2.x, CS, CS2
<http://helpx.adobe.com/indesign/kb/import-excel-data-charts-graphs.ht=

ml>=20

Post by Helpful Harry
Charts & Graphics from MS Office to InDesign =BB Creative Progression
<http://www.creativeprogression.com/charts-graphics-from-ms-office-to-ind=

esign/>
Thank you Harry for the information. The pdf is for Vectors which allow
for very high resolution.

Creating a PDF may not mean you get vector graphics - it depends on the
application being used and the software used to create the PDF. For
example, on my old computer here, using Mac OS X's built-in "print to PDF"
converts anything more difficult than standard text into bitmap imagery.
:o(

I'm not sure why illustrator before ID. It's just what i've seen people
do, such as the youtube link. I'm going to try that and see if it's still
vector.

Just opening the PDF into Ilustrator and re-saving it won't do anything to
change bitmap images to vector images, nor the other way around. In fact
it won't do anything useful (other than perhaps remove some excess
Microsoft created garbage in the document), which is why it's just a
wasted step as far as I can see.
The exception could be if you're using Illustrator to convert the Excel
PDFs into CMYK colours for proper printing, but even then InDesign has the
oiption of converting images when creating the final PDF (although I
haven't checked to see if that includes imported PDFs).
The only other reason I can think of for opening the PDFs in Illustrator
is if you need to make some editing tweaks (e.g. adjusting the colours
from Excel into corporate specific colours).

I'm not tied to excel so the chart we used up to this point were created in
illustrator. I need to mimick them as much as possible. I'll try the pdf
to ID option as well if I can get the Excel graph to look right.

Creating the charts in Illustrator is probably a better idea. For simple
bar / column charts I just create them directly in InDesign itself. Once
I've created one I can group all the elements, and then copy / paste it
where ever I need another bar / column chart and simply alter the length
of the bars / columns or height of the columns. Of course, this isn't
"live" data which automatically updates, but then neither are charts from
Excel or illustrator.
Using Excel (or Apple's Numbers on a Mac) does make making charts easier
... although the newer versions of Excel actually make it more difficult
than it used to be. :o(
There is evidently a plug-in for InDesign to create charts, but it's aimed
at professional print / design companies and costs a whopping US$3,000!!
If you're only needing fairly simple pie charts, then there is this free
plug-in for InDesign CS4 or CS5.
<http://www.indiscripts.com/post/2010/06/claquos2-pie-chart-builder-for-indesign>
Helpful Harry :o)

Thanks again. I understand where you're coming from with the skipping of illustrator. Even with the colors, I can make swatched in ID. We've never used excel or powerpoint to feed our ID project charts before so i'm not sure if I can recreate the charts I need to. I think I can and then use the swatches to get teh color right. Can you specify the $3k tool? or send me the information for it? If it populates precreated charts, then it would be worth it for us to purchase.

[Helpful Harry]

Post by b***@gmail.com

Post by Helpful Harry
There is evidently a plug-in for InDesign to create charts, but it's
aimed at professional print / design companies and costs a whopping
US$3,000!!

Thanks again. I understand where you're coming from with the skipping of
illustrator. Even with the colors, I can make swatched in ID.

You can't change the colours of an imported chart that in InDesign. You
would have to go back to Excel or Illustrator and then create a new PDF,
which InDesign would automatically re-link to.

Post by b***@gmail.com
We've never used excel or powerpoint to feed our ID project charts
before so i'm not sure if I can recreate the charts I need to. I think
I can and then use the swatches to get teh color right.

If you're recreating the charts in InDesign you can use any colour from
the Swatch Palette. I don't know how easy it is to recreate pie charts in
the newer versions of InDesign, but other types are easy, if fiddly, to
do. Of course they are manually created, so don't use the source data.

Post by b***@gmail.com
Can you specify the $3k tool? or send me the information for it? If it
populates precreated charts, then it would be worth it for us to purchase.

I don't know much about it (it turned up in a quick Google search), but
the US$3000 software is called uChart by XMPie. It does bar charts, area
charts and line charts, as well as pie charts, using dynamic data from
other files (not sure if those are Excel or plain text). The website is
<http://www.xmpie.com/uchart>. I've had a quick look and it appears to be
one of the modules in a larger piece of software available for Mac and PC,
which explains why it costs so much.

Helpful Harry :o)

[b***@gmail.com]

Post by Helpful Harry

Post by b***@gmail.com

Post by Helpful Harry
There is evidently a plug-in for InDesign to create charts, but it's
aimed at professional print / design companies and costs a whopping
US$3,000!!

Thanks again. I understand where you're coming from with the skipping of
illustrator. Even with the colors, I can make swatched in ID.

You can't change the colours of an imported chart that in InDesign. You
would have to go back to Excel or Illustrator and then create a new PDF,
which InDesign would automatically re-link to.

Post by b***@gmail.com
We've never used excel or powerpoint to feed our ID project charts
before so i'm not sure if I can recreate the charts I need to. I think
I can and then use the swatches to get teh color right.

If you're recreating the charts in InDesign you can use any colour from
the Swatch Palette. I don't know how easy it is to recreate pie charts in
the newer versions of InDesign, but other types are easy, if fiddly, to
do. Of course they are manually created, so don't use the source data.

Post by b***@gmail.com
Can you specify the $3k tool? or send me the information for it? If it
populates precreated charts, then it would be worth it for us to purchase.

I don't know much about it (it turned up in a quick Google search), but
the US$3000 software is called uChart by XMPie. It does bar charts, area
charts and line charts, as well as pie charts, using dynamic data from
other files (not sure if those are Excel or plain text). The website is
<http://www.xmpie.com/uchart>. I've had a quick look and it appears to be
one of the modules in a larger piece of software available for Mac and PC,
which explains why it costs so much.
Helpful Harry :o)

Thanks Harry,you've been great. I'm going to test the excel-illustrator-id out and see if it works for us. I think that it's possible adobe isn't the right solution for us. I'll look at other publication applications aimed at business and see what they can do.

I have been in contact with XMPie and Chartbot. XMPie actually uses Chartbot. Chartbot doesn't do it themselves and do not have plans for linking functionality. XMPie told us to purchase the full 1v1 Marketing Solution for $15k to get the uChart. There has to be a software vendor that can do this for less than that.

[Helpful Harry]

Post by b***@gmail.com
Thanks Harry,you've been great. I'm going to test the excel-illustrator-id
out and see if it works for us. I think that it's possible adobe isn't the
right solution for us. I'll look at other publication applications aimed
at business and see what they can do.
I have been in contact with XMPie and Chartbot. XMPie actually uses
Chartbot. Chartbot doesn't do it themselves and do not have plans for
linking functionality. XMPie told us to purchase the full 1v1 Marketing
Solution for $15k to get the uChart. There has to be a software vendor
that can do this for less than that.

I did find this Podcast page:
http://indesignsecrets.com/indesignsecrets-podcast-173.php

and there's a few links from the Podcast for pie charts, line charts, etc.
further down the page, but they're probably too simple for what you need.


The charting functions in Illustrator are very good, although tricker to
find and use than in Excel.

Helpful Harry :o)