How to Save a Chart in Excel

Creating a compelling chart in Excel is a great first step, but its true power is realized when you can share it outside of the spreadsheet. Whether you need to insert it into a PowerPoint presentation, include it in a Word document, or send it as a standalone image, knowing how to save your chart correctly is essential. This guide will walk you through several methods for saving and exporting your Excel charts, from a quick copy-paste to creating reusable professional templates.

The Easiest Method: Copy and Paste as a Picture

Sometimes you just need to get your chart into another application - fast. This is the simplest way to move a chart into an email, a Microsoft Word document, or a PowerPoint slide without any fuss.

When to Use This Method

This approach is perfect for one-off situations where you need a static visual. By pasting the chart as a picture, you sever the link to the original Excel data. This is actually beneficial as it prevents the chart from accidentally updating or changing if the source data is modified. It also keeps your file sizes smaller and helps avoid sending sensitive underlying spreadsheet data along with your visual.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Select Your Chart: Click anywhere on your chart in Excel to select it. You’ll see a border appear around the entire chart object.
2. Copy the Chart: You can either right-click on the selected chart and choose Copy, or use the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+C (or Cmd+C on a Mac).
3. Navigate to Your Destination: Open the Word document, PowerPoint slide, or Outlook email where you want to place the chart.
4. Paste as a Picture: Right-click on the area where you want the chart to appear. Hover over the Paste Options and look for the icon that looks like a clipboard with a picture. It’s usually labeled Picture. Click it.

That's it! Your chart is now embedded as a simple image. You can resize it, crop it, and move it around just like any other picture. It will no longer be connected to its Excel data source.

How to Save a Chart as a Picture File (PNG, JPG, etc.)

If you need an actual image file - perhaps to upload to a website, use in a non-Microsoft application, or simply store for later use - you can save it directly from Excel as a PNG, JPG, or even an SVG file.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Select the Chart: Click on the chart you wish to save to ensure it's selected.
2. Right-Click and Save: Right-click on the border of the chart. It's important to click the empty whitespace area or the border, not an individual bar, line, or text element. A context menu will appear.
3. Choose "Save as Picture...": Select this option from the menu.
4. Choose your File Destination and Name: A "Save As Picture" dialog box will pop up. Navigate to the folder where you want to save your file and give your chart a descriptive name.
5. Select the File Type: This is the most important step. Click the "Save as type" dropdown menu to choose your desired image format.

Choosing the Right Image Format

You’ll see several options in the "Save as type" menu. Here’s a quick guide to picking the right one for your needs:

• PNG (Portable Network Graphics): This is the best choice for most charts. It handles sharp lines, text, and flat colors exceptionally well, resulting in a crisp, clean image. It also supports transparent backgrounds, which is useful if you want to place your chart over a colored background in another design.
• JPEG (Joint Photographic Experts Group): JPEGs are best for photographs and images with complex color gradients. For a typical bar or line chart, JPEG compression can create slight blurriness ("artifacts") around text and sharp lines. Only use this if you need a very small file size and minor quality loss is acceptable.
• SVG (Scalable Vector Graphics): This is a fantastic modern option for high-quality work. Unlike PNGs and JPEGs, which are made of pixels, SVGs are made of mathematical equations. This means you can scale an SVG image to any size - from a tiny icon to a giant billboard - and it will never lose quality or become pixelated. It's an excellent choice for web use or inclusion in high-resolution printed reports.
• GIF (Graphics Interchange Format): GIF is an older format that is generally outperformed by PNG for static charts. It is limited to 256 colors and is better suited for simple logos or short animated clips.

Level Up Your Workflow: Save as a Chart Template

If you find yourself constantly creating charts with the same custom branding - specific color schemes, font styles, logos, or axis formatting - then saving your design as a Chart Template is a game-changer. This feature allows you to save a chart’s formatting and apply it to new data with just a few clicks.

Step-by-Step: Creating the Template

1. Perfect Your Chart: Create and format a chart exactly the way you want your future charts to look. Adjust the title fonts, data label styles, legend position, bar colors - everything. This will be your master design.
2. Right-Click to Save: Right-click on the perfected chart border and select Save as Template... from the context menu.
3. Name and Save Your Template: Excel will automatically prompt you to save the file in your default charts template folder. It's best to leave it here so Excel can easily find it later. Give it a clear name like "Monthly Sales Report - Blue" or "Company Branding - H1." The file will be saved with a .crtx extension.

Step-by-Step: Using Your Saved Template

1. Select Your New Data: Highlight the set of data you want to visualize with your custom template.
2. Go to Insert > Charts: On the Insert tab of the ribbon, navigate to the Charts section.
3. Open the "All Charts" Dialog: Instead of picking a default chart, find and click the small T icon in the bottom-right corner of the charts section to open a full "Insert Chart" window.
4. Find Your Template: In this window, click on the All Charts tab at the top, and then select the Templates category from the list on the left-hand side.
5. Apply the Template: You will see an icon for the template you just saved. Click it, then click OK.

Excel will instantly generate a new chart using your new data, but beautifully styled with all the formatting from your saved template. This saves an enormous amount of time and ensures brand consistency across all your reports.

For Read-Only Reports: Saving a Chart as a PDF

Sometimes you need to share not just the chart, but the entire report page in a professional, uneditable format. Exporting your worksheet as a PDF is the perfect way to do this. A PDF preserves your layout, fonts, and chart quality in a single, universally accessible file.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Arrange Your Page: Position your chart (and any relevant data tables or text) on the worksheet exactly as you want it to appear in the final document. For a clean, full-page chart, you can first move the chart to its own sheet by right-clicking it and selecting Move Chart > New sheet.
2. Go to Save As or Export: Click on the File tab, then select Save As or Export (in some versions, Export has a dedicated "Create PDF/XPS" option).
3. Choose PDF as the File Type: In the Save As dialog, click the "Save as type" dropdown and select PDF.
4. Select What to Publish (Optional but Important): Before saving, look for an Option: button. This lets you choose whether a Selection, the Entire workbook, or only your currently Selected Sheets gets published to the PDF. This helps avoid accidentally sharing an entire workbook when you only mean to send one page.
5. Click Publish: Your chart and worksheet are now saved as a high-quality PDF, ready to be emailed or shared.

Final Thoughts

From a quick copy-and-paste to creating advanced templates that enforce brand consistency, Excel offers multiple flexible ways to save and share your chart visualizations. Choosing the right technique depends entirely on your end goal, whether you need a static image for a quick presentation, a high-resolution file for a website, or a locked-down document for an official report.

We often build the same reports every week, manually create the chart, save it as an image, and then drop it into a new PowerPoint deck. This is precisely the kind of repetitive task that led us to create Graphed. Instead of rebuilding charts in Excel, we help you connect your data sources - like Google Analytics, Shopify, or Facebook Ads - directly and use natural language to instantly generate real-time dashboards. You can skip the manual export process entirely and always have an up-to-date view of your performance, ready to share with just a click.