importing excel charts into indesign cs

[c***@adobeforums.com]

I have several excel charts which are updated on a weekly basis, the same are used in an indesign document. How can I update the charts in excel and have the charts updated in indesign at the same time???? I do not want to be copying and pasting all the time. Is there a better way of handling this??

[unknown]

www.teacupsoftware.com (TableStyles)

or

www.woodwing.com (Smart Styles)

[Bob Levine]

If you're talking about charts, as in graphs, you can't.

If you're referring to tables, that's a whole different story. Do the
formatting in Excel, place the range in ID and simply update the link.

Bob

[c***@adobeforums.com]

Yes, I am referring to excel graphs.

[S***@adobeforums.com]

You can't do it with a totally automated process. However, you may not need to "copy and paste all the time."

From Excel, print the chart as a PDF file. In InDesign, place the PDF file. Then when you want to update it, print the PDF file from Excel with the same name and in the same location as the first version. Then in InDesign, simply choose Update Link from the Links palette flyout menu.

This assumes, of course, that (1) you have a way to print a PDF file from Excel, (2) you can accomplish all the formatting you need to accomplish in Excel, and (3) if you're printing using a commercial process that you can live the color shifts that will occur with InDesign's default RGB-to-CMYK conversion.

[c***@adobeforums.com]

Stu, thanks for the tip, I did not think of creating a pdf of the excel chart and then updating thru the links palette in ID. I will try this

thanks again

[Bob Levine]

Just a note that the conversion to CMYK can actually be done when
creating the PDF from Excel. The only thing to be careful of black text
going to four color. That can be fixed with Acrobat Professional.

Bob

[T***@adobeforums.com]

Carlos

I had to do this at one time with about 70 Excel graphs in a monthly report. I used the PDF route as recommended by Stu, with one addition. For convenience I linked the Excel data for each graph in a frame on the pasteboard alongside the graph's position in the InDesign document, ready for monthly revision.

Most of the graphs spanned 15 months and I had to delete the oldest data row and add the latest. Hence, for historical purposes, I had to rename each file before beginning each month's edition of the report. That was the only pain in the process, but seeing you have only several graphs it should be painless.

Since the report was an internal affair, it is now done in QuarkXPress because OLE can still be used, but with the combination of the PDFs and InDesign's superior typography the shortlived InDesign version looked cleaner when printed.