Excel: Chart Is Cropped when Object Pasted with Paste Link

• Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 4.0, 4.0a

SYMPTOMS

In Microsoft Excel, if you copy a chart object (embedded chart) and use the Paste Link command to paste it as a picture into another application such as Microsoft Word version 2.0 for Windows, the image may appear clipped, cut in half, or very small relative to its frame.

CAUSE

This situation will occur when the Window Zoom option on the sheet containing the chart object is set to a magnification other than 100% and one of the following conditions is also true:

• You have saved, closed, and reopened the worksheet containing the chart object.

  -or-

• You have changed the Window Zoom magnification after copying the chart and before using the Paste Link command to paste the chart in the other application.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the versions of Microsoft Excel listed above. This problem was corrected in version 5.0 of Microsoft Excel for Windows.

MORE INFORMATION

When you use the chart object after you have used the Copy and Paste Link commands to paste it, after you save close, and reopened, the worksheet, it will appear cropped or halved. The chart object will be pasted correctly if the worksheet has been saved for the first time and has not yet been closed and reopened.

Regardless of whether or not the worksheet has been saved, if you decrease the Zoom magnification after copying the chart, the result when you paste it with the Paste Link command will be a small chart inside a large frame. If you increase the Zoom after copying the chart, the result is similar to the clipping effect described in the Summary section of this article.

To use the Paste Link command to paste a Microsoft Excel chart in Microsoft Word (or another application that supports object linking and embedding [OLE]), choose Paste Special from the Edit menu, select Picture and choose Paste Link. If you paste the chart without linking (by choosing Paste from the Edit menu or by choosing the Paste button in the Paste Special dialog box), the image will be rendered correctly. This problem does not occur with other objects created with the drawing tools in Microsoft Excel--these objects cannot be linked with the Paste Link command.

WORKAROUND

When you edit the chart once in Microsoft Excel, the chart size in Microsoft Word or your other application will be updated properly. You can edit the chart prior to copying it or after pasting it with the Paste Link command. An easy and fast way to edit the chart in Microsoft Excel is to open it into a chart window by double-clicking the chart object and then closing the chart window. The chart in your other application will then be updated to the correct size; or, if you paste the chart with the Paste Link command for the first time, the image rendered will be the correct size.

REFERENCES

"User's Guide 2," pages 360, 435