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Importing MS Excel charts into InDesign issues

New Here ,
Jan 09, 2017 Jan 09, 2017

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Hi I am using Abobe CS6 InDesign and MS Excel 2016 on a Mac.

The trouble I am having is when importing from Excel by using the place feature in Indesign in the charts appear to be blocky and not crisp.

Can anyone one advise on method that would work to import rather that having to re-create?

any help is greatly appreciated.

Grover

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Mentor ,
Jan 09, 2017 Jan 09, 2017

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ID can't import excel charts.

Remember, never say you can't do something in InDesign, it's always just a question of finding the right workaround to get the job done. © David Blatner

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Mentor ,
Jan 09, 2017 Jan 09, 2017

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But you can export/print Excel to PDF and than import to indd. This can be not so simple, because you need to check and correct in Illustrator this PDF for some issue, such as

- rich black

- RGB to CMYK

- etc.

Remember, never say you can't do something in InDesign, it's always just a question of finding the right workaround to get the job done. © David Blatner

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Advisor ,
Jan 10, 2017 Jan 10, 2017

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Import the chart/create it in Illustrator first then use the illustrator file to place in InDesign. Charts in Excel are low/medium res to optimise the programme and make sure that one chart on its own doesn't bring down the application or PC. By using Illustrator you can essentially "force" the resolution to look crisp.

Additional settings in Illustrator will help with this if it needs to be even crisper... Essentially your telling it to make a graph based on Illustrators settings not the basic excel settings.

Also you should check that your images and placed objects are all displaying at high resolution settings in InDesign in case that is all that is causing your "blocky" look - before worrying about using Illustrator.

Hope this makes sense

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People's Champ ,
Jan 10, 2017 Jan 10, 2017

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InDesign specifically supports copying a chart from Excel and pasting it into InDesign: Select the chart in Excel, copy, and paste in InDesign. Or else just drag the chart across from Excel to InDesign. Works fine usually.

I've tested this on Windows. Haven't tried on Mac yet, but presumably it should work the same.

Here's a link to the documentation (around the middle of the page where it says "Copy or drag Excel charts into InDesign CS2 documents"

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Mentor ,
Jan 10, 2017 Jan 10, 2017

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>> InDesign specifically supports copying a chart from Excel and pasting it into InDesign:

This is not an "import". This is drag&drop, this is not ready image/vector for print.

Remember, never say you can't do something in InDesign, it's always just a question of finding the right workaround to get the job done. © David Blatner

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People's Champ ,
Jan 10, 2017 Jan 10, 2017

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Hi George,

I'm also hesitant about drag&drop into InDesign, e.g. from Illustrator it's known to cause real problems.

But, in this particular case, it seems that Adobe specifically added this functionality for bringing in Excel charts. It comes in as printer-ready vector, and I've used this myself many times successfully, although I'm not sure what happens to the chart colours...

Ariel

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Advisor ,
Jan 10, 2017 Jan 10, 2017

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Then "place" it don't drag and drop it. That way any changes can be made in the illustrator file without compromising the InDesign File... all you then need to do is either enable linked files to auto update or update THAT illustrator file.

James

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Community Expert ,
Jan 10, 2017 Jan 10, 2017

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We need to wait for the OP to come back and clarify things. FWIW, I can recommend the copy/paste method for very straight-forward charts with not fancy fills or gradients. Unless this is destined for a coffee table book (and I'm assuming it's not) it will probably be just fine.

On a side note, it would be nice if Adobe matched Quark's latest effort in this regard. Copy from Excel and paste as live objects.

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New Here ,
Feb 12, 2017 Feb 12, 2017

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I can drag and drop charts from an excel file into indesign which works fine most of the time. Unfortunately not with all charts. A standard bar or pie chart works great (crisp and clear), but when pasting a waterfall or treemap chart in indesign creates a blurry image. How come there is a difference? Why does it not work for all charts?

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Community Expert ,
Feb 12, 2017 Feb 12, 2017

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That’s just the way it is. If you need something with fancy fills or gradients you either copy/paste to Illy and fix it up there or create a PDF right out of Excel. Place the PDF.

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