resizing copied chart makes text unreadable

A

Amedee Van Gasse

Hello,

First let me say that the problem at hand is very difficult to
investigate if you don't have multiple virtual machines to play with
and roll back when needed.

Situation:
Windows XP sp2 + only security updates
Office 2003 sp2 + only security updates

Procedure:
User has made several charts in Excel, all on one page.
Select 2 or 3 charts that are close together with ctrl+click.
Group the selected charts.
Hold shift.
Edit -> Copy picture.
Appearance: as shown on screen; Format: Picture.
Open Powerpoint.
Paste (CTRL+V)
Resize the picture: drag on one side to make it wider.

Result:
The text on the charts, for example X axis values, becomes unreadable:
the numbers are too close together, font is deformed,...

Also tested:
* same procedure, on Windows XP sp2 + Office 2003 no sp --> OK
* same procedure, on Windows XP sp2 + Office 2003 sp2 + no security
updates --> OK
* same procedure, on Windows XP sp3 + Office 2003 sp3 + security
updates --> NOK

Hypothesis:
One of the Office security updates between sp2 and sp3 also intoduced
a changed behaviour of pasted charts/pictures in Powerpoint.

The affected user wants me to open a ticket with Microsoft, but I'm
afraid that this will lead nowhere. Do they still support Office 2003
sp2? I don't think so, if I look at the lifecycle:
http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=2488
We will probably install sp3 in a month or so, but I have already
verified that it does not solve the problem.

Questions:
* Can anyone confirm this problem?
* How can I get the old behaviour back?



Kind regards,
Amedee
 
J

Jon Peltier

I haven't noticed this problem in any SP of Excel 2003, but I will tell you
that it gets worse in Excel 2007. Opening a ticket will not provide any
relief even if SP2 is still supported.

One way to improve results is to resize the charts in Excel to the size you
need in PowerPoint, before you copy them in the first place. This minimizes
the distortion created by resizing and reshaping the charts.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Peltier Technical Services, Inc.
http://PeltierTech.com/WordPress/>
Advanced Excel Conference - Training in Charting and Programming
http://peltiertech.com/Training/2009-06-ACNJ/AdvExcelConf200906ACNJ.html
_______
 
A

Amedee Van Gasse

I haven't noticed this problem in any SP of Excel 2003, but I will tell you
that it gets worse in Excel 2007. Opening a ticket will not provide any
relief even if SP2 is still supported.

One way to improve results is to resize the charts in Excel to the size you
need in PowerPoint, before you copy them in the first place. This minimizes
the distortion created by resizing and reshaping the charts.

- Jon
Click to expand...

Thank you for your reply, Jon.
I appreciate that someone like you takes the time to answer my
question.


I already gave my user exactly that advice.
But then another problem exists. I didn't mention that yet because I
know it is bad practice to ask more than one question in the same, but
since you bring it up, I will explain anyway.

The chart is on 11 columns. When I make the columns up to 13.5 wide
(total width of 148,5), then your suggestion would seem to work.
However the chart still needs a bit of resizing after the user has
copied it. Not much, as compared to the original, but still enough
distortion to make the result less than optimal.
When I make the total width of the 11 columns over 150, then the chart
is cut off at the right side when pasting in Powerpoint.
Tested in Office 2003 sp2 and sp3.

I don't have a copy of Office 2007 here at work. CIO gave instructions
that we're gonna skip 2007.
But I have an "illegal" installation of OpenOffice 3.0, will try with
that. :)
 
A

Amedee Van Gasse

I haven't noticed this problem in any SP of Excel 2003, but I will tell you
that it gets worse in Excel 2007. Opening a ticket will not provide any
relief even if SP2 is still supported.

One way to improve results is to resize the charts in Excel to the size you
need in PowerPoint, before you copy them in the first place. This minimizes
the distortion created by resizing and reshaping the charts.

- Jon
Click to expand...

Jon,

Looks like my message didn't get trough.

I already suggested that workaround to my user, but then he complained
about another problem.
The chart is in 11 columns. Make them 13.5 wide (total 148.5) -> no
problem
Make them wider (total width > 150) and the chart is cut off at the
right.

It isn't a complete solution either, because the dimensions of the
chart are _almost_ good. If the chart still needs a bit of resizing,
then there is still distortion. Much less than original, but still.
Depending on the chart, it may still be a problem.
 
J

Jon Peltier

The other suggestion I'd make is if you will have to resize the chart, at
least keep the aspect ratio constant. This way, the text boxes only have to
resize uniformly and there will not be the problems of text boxes being
squashed or text having to wrap.

So if the chart needs to be widened in PowerPoint, make it narrower but also
not as tall in Excel.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Peltier Technical Services, Inc.
http://PeltierTech.com/WordPress/
Advanced Excel Conference - June 17-18 2009 - Charting and Programming
http://peltiertech.com/Training/2009-06-ACNJ/AdvExcelConf200906ACNJ.html
_______
 
A

Amedee Van Gasse

The other suggestion I'd make is if you will have to resize the chart, at
least keep the aspect ratio constant. This way, the text boxes only have to
resize uniformly and there will not be the problems of text boxes being
squashed or text having to wrap.

So if the chart needs to be widened in PowerPoint, make it narrower but also
not as tall in Excel.
Click to expand...

Jon,

Your suggestion is of course completely correct.
But I cannot expect of my user that he will understand what an aspect
ratio is.
He just wants to copy the charts and drag them to the right size, just
like he did until a couple of months ago.
You know, users...

Also there is more than one chart in Excel. It's not possible to
resize columns AND rows because one aspect ratio for one chart is the
wrong aspect ratio for the chart right next to it. Perhaps a bit
difficult to explain.
 
A

Amedee Van Gasse

Jon,

Your suggestion is of course completely correct.
But I cannot expect of my user that he will understand what an aspect
ratio is.
He just wants to copy the charts and drag them to the right size, just
like he did until a couple of months ago.
You know, users...

Also there is more than one chart in Excel. It's not possible to
resize columns AND rows because one aspect ratio for one chart is the
wrong aspect ratio for the chart right next to it. Perhaps a bit
difficult to explain.
Click to expand...

I bit the bullet, and reported an incident using our Premier Support
contract.
 
A

Amedee Van Gasse

Jon,

Your suggestion is of course completely correct.
But I cannot expect of my user that he will understand what an aspect
ratio is.
He just wants to copy the charts and drag them to the right size, just
like he did until a couple of months ago.
You know, users...

Also there is more than one chart in Excel. It's not possible to
resize columns AND rows because one aspect ratio for one chart is the
wrong aspect ratio for the chart right next to it. Perhaps a bit
difficult to explain.
Click to expand...

I bit the bullet, and reported an incident using our Premier Support
contract.
 
A

Amedee Van Gasse

I bit the bullet, and reported an incident using our Premier Support
contract.
Click to expand...

Just an update.
Microsoft Premier Support has confirmed the issue. Along the way, they
confirmed that it is also a problem in Office 2007. They have added it
to their database, to solve it in a possible future fix or service
release.

I'm not counting on it that it will happen soon (if ever), but I have
covered all my options.
Case closed as far as I am concerned.
Yeah I know there is no solution but sometimes there just isn't one.
 

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