# Power Point Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 28, 2007, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-point-question/394031 "2007-02-28T15:51:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ChicanoRojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@ChicanoRojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChicanoRojo)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-point-question/394031/1 "2007-02-28T15:51:40Z")
I am doing a presentation with MS Power Point. I found a .pdf file that contains a chart that is very informative and fits with my presentation. Now. The simple question, how do I “insert” the graphic using the .pdf file?? 😕 I tried the usual insert-\>pdf file-\>prompt to type of file, but I get an error message. Any info greatly appreciated. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-point-question/394031/2 "2007-02-28T16:03:23Z")
You can copy text of off a PDF … so you could copy the text of the chart off of the PDF, and paste it into a text file. The point of this is to see whether or not the data pastes in tab-delimited (tab characters between data entries on the same line). If the data is tab-delimited (and I’m thinking it should be), you can copy-and-paste into Excel. Then you’ll be able to format the data into a usable chart. Sucks to lose whatever formatting was in the PDF, but you should be able to produce a close duplicate in Excel. There is another way, but you’d need access to the graphics program Adobe Illustrator. You can open the PDF as a native AI file, strip away everything but the chart, and then convert (via Save As) the chart some kind of file importable to Power Point (hi-res JPEG, for example … maybe BMP or TIFF). ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-point-question/394031/3 "2007-02-28T16:04:15Z")
Convert to a tif or jpg by taking a screen shot? ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-point-question/394031/4 "2007-02-28T16:09:29Z")
[QUOTE=Si Amigo] Convert to a tif or jpg by taking a screen shot? [/QUOTE] If it will be meant for display on a computer screen, that would be OK. But if it will become printed material, or be blown up on a big screen for presentation, the chart will look heavily pixelated. ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-point-question/394031/5 "2007-02-28T16:11:13Z")
[QUOTE=Si Amigo] Convert to a tif or jpg by taking a screen shot? [/QUOTE] Actually, once you take a screen shot (after zooming in the pdf file to isolate what you want), you can paste it directly into Power Point, and use the crop function on the Picture toolbar to isolate whatver you need ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-point-question/394031/6 "2007-02-28T16:33:43Z")
I prefer to crop on Paint, but YMMV. I find that cropping in Paint and pasting the already-cropped drawing leads to smaller file sizes. Of course, many of my current coworkers think I’m just an old fashioned crone for worrying about such a stupid thing. ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-point-question/394031/7 "2007-02-28T16:55:43Z")
[QUOTE=Nava] I prefer to crop on Paint, but YMMV. I find that cropping in Paint and pasting the already-cropped drawing leads to smaller file sizes. Of course, many of my current coworkers think I’m just an old fashioned crone for worrying about such a stupid thing. [/QUOTE] I wish that I worked with more old fashioned crones who took the time to be concerned about overloading peoples mailboxes. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![ChicanoRojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@ChicanoRojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ChicanoRojo)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-point-question/394031/8 "2007-02-28T17:15:41Z")
[QUOTE=scotandrsn] Actually, once you take a screen shot (after zooming in the pdf file to isolate what you want), you can paste it directly into Power Point, and use the crop function on the Picture toolbar to isolate whatver you need [/QUOTE] …and that worked for me as a short cut solution! Thanx 😃 ---
**Author:** ![scotandrsn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a4c791/32.png) [@scotandrsn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scotandrsn)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2007, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/power-point-question/394031/9 "2007-02-28T17:26:05Z")
[QUOTE=Nava] I prefer to crop on Paint, but YMMV. I find that cropping in Paint and pasting the already-cropped drawing leads to smaller file sizes. Of course, many of my current coworkers think I’m just an old fashioned crone for worrying about such a stupid thing. [/QUOTE] A very valid point, but it seemed to me the OP was just looking for a quick solution to a one-off problem