How to Copy a Graph from Google Sheets

Need to move a chart from your Google Sheet into a document, slideshow, or website? Transferring visuals out of your spreadsheet is a common task, and thankfully, it's a pretty straightforward one. This guide will walk you through a few different ways to copy your graphs from Google Sheets, covering the best method for any situation - whether you need a live-updating chart in a report or just a quick snapshot for an email.

Copy and Paste: The Classic Approach

The most common and flexible way to get a chart out of Google Sheets is by using the built-in copy and paste function. This method is perfect for moving charts into other Google Workspace apps like Google Docs or Google Slides because it gives you the option to keep your chart connected to its original data.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Follow these quick steps to copy your chart:

1. Select Your Chart: Open your Google Sheet and click once on the chart you want to copy. You'll know it's selected when you see a blue border around it.
2. Open the Menu: In the upper-right corner of the selected chart, click the three vertical dots icon to open the chart menu.
3. Copy the Chart: From the dropdown menu, select "Copy chart." Your chart has now been copied to your clipboard.
4. Navigate to Your Destination: Go to the file where you want to place the chart (like a Google Doc, Google Slide, or even a different Google Sheet).
5. Paste Your Chart: Place your cursor where you want the chart to go. Right-click and choose "Paste" from the context menu, or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+V (on Windows) or Cmd+V (on Mac).

Just after you paste, a small dialog box will pop up with two very important choices: "Link to spreadsheet" and "Paste unlinked." Your choice here determines how your chart will behave in its new home.

Linked vs. Unlinked Charts: What's the Difference?

Understanding the distinction between linked and unlinked charts will save you a lot of manual work down the line. One isn't necessarily better than the other, it all depends on what you need for your specific document or presentation.

What Are Linked Charts?

A linked chart maintains a live connection to the data in its original Google Sheet. When you choose "Link to spreadsheet," you're creating a dynamic visual that can be updated with a single click in your document or presentation.

• When Is This Useful? This is perfect for recurring reports, live dashboards, or any presentation where the underlying data changes frequently. Instead of re-building your slides every week for your team meeting, you can just update the numbers in your Sheet, and the graphs in your Slides will follow.
• How It Works: If the data in the source Google Sheet changes, an "Update" button will appear on the chart in your Google Doc or Slide. Clicking this button pulls in the latest data and refreshes the chart automatically. You no longer have to worry that your reports are showing stale numbers.

What Are Unlinked Charts?

An unlinked chart is a static image. When you select "Paste unlinked," you are pasting a simple snapshot of the graph exactly as it appeared at the moment you copied it. It has no connection back to the original Google Sheet whatsoever.

• When Is This Useful? This is the ideal option for historical or point-in-time reports. If you're creating a slide that shows "Q3 Performance," you want that data to be frozen in time. Using an unlinked chart ensures the information stays the same, even if the source data is updated later for Q4 and beyond.
• How It Works: The chart is treated just like any other image in your document. It's simple, reliable, and completely independent of the spreadsheet it came from. The obvious downside is that if you need an updated version, you have to go back to the Sheet, copy it again, and replace the old image.

Taking it a Step Further: Publishing Your Chart to the Web

What if you want to share your chart outside of a specific document? Google Sheets offers a powerful "Publish to the web" feature that allows you to embed a live version of your chart directly into a website, blog post, or intranet page. Published charts update automatically whenever the source data changes in your Sheet.

How to Publish a Chart

1. Click the three-dot menu on your chart and select "Publish chart..."
2. A dialog box will appear. Here, you have a few options:
3. Click the green "Publish" button and confirm you want to proceed.
4. Google Sheets will generate a URL or an embed code for you to copy and use wherever you need.

This is a fantastic trick for creating live-updating data visualizations on a company homepage, a Notion dashboard, or a project management wiki. Everyone stays in the loop with the latest information without you having to manually update anything.

Alternative Methods for Simple Pasting

Sometimes you need to get an image of your chart into an application that doesn't play nicely with the standard copy-and-paste method (like certain email clients or chat programs). In these cases, you have two quick workarounds.

1. Download as an Image

For a high-quality, standalone file, your best bet is to download the chart directly.

• Click the three-dot menu on the chart.
• Hover over "Download."
• You can choose between:

Once downloaded, you can insert this file like any other image into an email, a presentation, or any other application.

2. Taking a Screenshot (The Quick and Dirty Way)

When speed is the most important factor, nothing beats a classic screenshot. It's not the highest quality, but it's universally compatible and gets the job done in seconds.

• On Mac: Use Cmd + Shift + 4. Your cursor will turn into a crosshair, allowing you to click and drag to select the exact area of the chart you want to capture. The screenshot will save to your desktop.
• On Windows: Use Windows key + Shift + S. This opens the Snipping Tool, which lets you click and drag to capture a portion of your screen. The image is saved to your clipboard, ready to be pasted anywhere.

This method produces the ultimate unlinked chart. It's a quick and easy way to capture a visual and drop it into a Slack message or a text, but it's not ideal for formal reports where quality and clarity matter.

Solving Common Problems When Copying Charts

Sometimes things don't go as planned. Here are a few common issues and how to fix them.

Problem: My linked chart won't update in Google Slides/Docs.

Solution: This is almost always a permissions issue. For a user to see and update a linked chart in a presentation or document, they must also have at least "View" access to the original Google Sheet where the data lives. Double-check the sharing settings on the source spreadsheet - if the person can't access the sheet, they can't update the chart.

Problem: The "Paste" option is grayed out or not working.

Solution: First, go back to the Google Sheet and make sure you explicitly selected "Copy chart" from the three-dot menu. If you did, this can sometimes be a browser-related hiccup. Your browser has its own clipboard permissions, and sometimes an extension or a setting can interfere. Try refreshing the page or using an incognito/private browsing window to paste the chart.

Problem: The chart looks blurry or low-quality.

Solution: This usually happens when you use the screenshot method. For documents where image quality is important, always use the dedicated "Copy chart" or "Download" feature. The PNG and SVG formats will give you a much cleaner and more professional-looking image that stays crisp even when resized.

Final Thoughts

Google Sheets gives you several convenient ways to share your data visualizations, so you're never stuck with your insights siloed in a spreadsheet. Whether you need a live, automatically updating graph for a team report or just a static image for a one-off email, you can copy, publish, or download your charts with just a few clicks.

While mastering spreadsheets is incredibly useful, the real bottleneck often appears when your data is scattered across multiple marketing and sales platforms. This is why we built Graphed. We simplify the entire process by connecting directly to tools like Google Analytics, Shopify, Salesforce, and Facebook Ads. Instead of manually exporting CSVs and building charts in spreadsheets, you can ask questions in plain English - like "show me my best-performing ad campaigns by revenue last month" - and we instantly generate a real-time, interactive dashboard for you. It's the fastest way to get from your data to the insights you actually need to grow.