20

Given a chart (normal column chart of whatever), how do I export that chart and only that chart as a PNG?

Improve this question

6 Answers 6

Reset to default
19

You can't do this directly from Excel; you need to use an external application:

  1. Select the chart, and then copy it to the clipboard (Ctrl-C).

  2. Open a picture editor that supports saving to PNG.

  3. Do a paste in the picture editor (when copying the chart from Excel 2010, it is recognized as a valid picture on the clipboard). The best will be to paste as new image if the picture editor supports that.

  4. Save as PNG.

Improve this answer
3
  • I think it's most easiest way to do that, there another method to do this is write VB script
    – Ishikawa Yoshi
    Aug 27, 2012 at 9:03
  • This works for selected cells as well as charts
    – binaryfunt
    Dec 15, 2016 at 16:04
  • Works in itself, but I find the resulting image to be of a lesser quality than the original. Lightshot does not have that problem. That is a very lightweight application that comes with a very easy upload function. See app.prntscr.com/en/index.html.
    – Frank Conijn - Support Ukraine
    Oct 23, 2017 at 23:08
3

If you're working within the Office environment you don't need any other software, all you need to do is select & copy your chart then choose the Paste Special option. One of those paste options is PNG. The others include:

  • PNG
  • JPEG
  • GIF
  • EMF
  • BMP
  • Microsoft Office Drawing Object

If you need to export outside of the Office environment, then you can use Office Picture Manager. Just paste your chart inside your My Pictures folder (or whereever is most convenient). My charts paste as PNG by default, but if yours don't, you can choose your image and File>Export and choose your file type, inlcuding PNG, from the list.

Improve this answer
2

There's a free, open-source Excel add-in to accomplish that, "Daniel's XL Toolbox" (https://www.xltoolbox.net).

Disclaimer: I'm the author of that tool.

Improve this answer
1

Try VBA:

When on the active chart click ALT+F11 or CTRL+G

and type:

Activechart.export "D:\chart.png" (use relevant file location - avoid the system partition)

You can change the file extension as you wish (png, jpeg etc.)

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    Alt+F11 gets you to the VBA window, but not to a console / textbox in which you can type.
    – einpoklum
    May 2, 2014 at 7:22
0

I usually go via printing/exporting to pdf first as I cannot see how to achieve print quality via the default export methods mentioned above. Once exported to pdf you can export to the desired image format from there via snipping tool or pdf to png command e.g. https://askubuntu.com/questions/50170/how-to-convert-pdf-to-image/50180.

Improve this answer
1
  • I've used screen capture from PDF and it isn't even near print quality even if the target area in PDF is so small that it can be enlarged 400% (and thus the captured image resolution being over 300dpi in original size). Then again, my printer does 600dpi but the results I got looked way worse than what 300dpi should be (probably due to on-screen image being mangled by anti-aliasing etc). So, I'd very much recommend using some PDF to image tool (many image processing application can import PDF files at given resolution).
    – zagrimsan
    Sep 16, 2016 at 7:24
0

For Ubuntu with Excel 2010 on POL/Wine:

  1. Select chart Home->Copy or Ctrl-c. Note that Home->Copy as Picture option does not work for me so first try with the standard copy.
  2. Open Gimp from the Dash. If you don't have Gimp installed, you can use LibreOffice Draw.
  3. Press Ctrl-v to paste.
  4. For Gimp: use File->Export and set the file name and format.
  5. LibreOffice Draw: Select the pasted image, Right-Click->Save Image
Improve this answer
2
  • This is the same as the accepted answer from 6½ years ago.
    – Scott - Слава Україні
    May 1, 2019 at 1:23
  • @Scott - I agree that it is essentially the same, but with added info for those that might be new to doing this in Ubuntu/Gimp/LibreOffice. Most importantly, Copy as Picture option works for me in Windows but not in Ubuntu and it took me a while to figure out the issue. Anyway, I'm happy to delete this answer (or feel free to delete it) if it does not add value.
    – Jaydin
    May 1, 2019 at 6:18

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .