Linking Visio 2007 and PowerPoint

When you link your diagram to a slide, you keep the original Visio 2007 drawing file and create a copy of it in PowerPoint 2007 that’s linked to the original. You can then make changes to the original drawing file and update the copy on the slide to reflect the changes.

Link when

• You’re going to change your source diagram frequently.

• You want your presentation to include the latest version.

• You need to limit the size of your presentation file. (The actual drawing is stored in the Visio 2007 source file. Only a copy is displayed within your presentation.)

Linking a Diagram to a Slide

When a diagram is linked, you have to manage two files: the Visio 2007 drawing file and the PowerPoint 2007 presentation file. Because you link to a diagram file in a specific location, you have to keep the two files together.

Follow these steps to link a Visio 2007 diagram to a PowerPoint 2007 slide:

1.	Open the diagram you want to use in the presentation. If the diagram has more than one page, display the page you want to appear on the slide.
2.	If you haven’t done so already, save the diagram (click the Save button on the Standard toolbar, or press Ctrl+S). Note The link that PowerPoint 2007 creates is really just a reference to the Visio 2007 drawing file, so you need to give that file a name by saving it before proceeding.
3.	Make sure nothing on the drawing is selected, and then choose Edit, Copy Drawing.
4.	Keep Visio 2007 open, and start PowerPoint 2007. If PowerPoint 2007 is already open, press Alt+Tab to switch to it. Note The Visio 2007 application must remain open for PowerPoint 2007 to paste and link the diagram.
5.	Display the slide where you want the Visio 2007 diagram to appear, and navigate to the Clipboard groups of the Home tab.
6.	Click Paste Special in the drop-down menu.
7.	In the Paste Special dialog box, select Paste Link, as Figure 13-5 shows. Figure 13-5. When you paste a drawing as a link, you ensure that the most up-to-date version of the drawing will be used in the presentation.
8.	Click OK to paste and link the diagram.

Editing and Updating Linked Diagrams

Every time you open a presentation file containing linked objects, including Visio 2007 diagrams, PowerPoint 2007 prompts you to update the links so that the slides display the latest version of your Visio 2007 diagrams. You can also manually update a linked diagram at any time.

When you’re working on a PowerPoint 2007 slide that contains a linked Visio 2007 diagram, you can right-click the diagram to display a shortcut menu that contains commands for working with the linked diagram, as Figure 13-6 shows. Depending on the version of PowerPoint you are using, the command names vary slightly, as follows:

• Linked Visio Object, Edit (or Edit VISIO Link)

• Linked Visio Object, Open (Open VISIO Link)

• Update Link

Use the Edit or Open command to open a Visio 2007 drawing window with the diagram, where you can edit it. Save your changes in Visio 2007, and then return to PowerPoint 2007. If you have set the link to update automatically (see below), it will do so. Otherwise, click on the Edit Links To Files icon in the Quick Access toolbar, select the link, and click Update Now.

If the Edit Links To Files icon isn’t visible, right-click on the Quick Access toolbar and choose Customize Quick Access Toolbar. Choose All Commands from the top of the PowerPoint 2007 Options Window, scroll down till you see the Edit Links To Files entry, click it, click Add, and then click OK.

To see all the linked diagrams in a presentation, click on the Edit Links To Files icon in the Quick Access toolbar in PowerPoint 2007 as shown in Figure 13-7. The Links dialog box lists all the linked objects (including Visio 2007 diagrams and other objects) and displays the status of the link. To update any of the links that are listed, select the one you want, and then click Update Now.

Troubleshooting: The message to update links gets in the way of the presentation If you don’t want PowerPoint 2007 to automatically update a link every time you open the presentation file, you can specify that a link is manual. You’ll still be able to update the link, but you control when the update happens. To update a link manually, click on the Edit Links To Files icon in the Quick Access toolbar in PowerPoint 2007, highlight the link, and click the Manual radio button. When you want to update the link, return to the Links dialog box in PowerPoint 2007 and choose Update Now. If you don’t see the Edit Links To Files icon in the Quick Access toolbar, click the down arrow to the right of the toolbar, and choose More Commands. In the subsequent window, select All Commands in the Choose Commands From box, then highlight Edit Links To Files, click Add, and then click OK.

Repairing Links When Files Are Moved or Renamed

If PowerPoint 2007 can’t find a Visio 2007 diagram that is linked to a slide, you’ll see a message the next time you update the links that says that the links were unavailable, as Figure 13-8 shows. Even so, the last version of the diagram that you linked to the slide still appears—the diagram doesn’t disappear from the slide, but it might be out of date. If you moved or renamed the original Visio 2007 drawing file, you can tell PowerPoint 2007 how to redirect the link so that you can update the diagram.

Follow these steps to reconnect a linked diagram:

1.	In PowerPoint 2007, click the Edit Links To Files icon in the Quick Access toolbar. The Links dialog box appears and lists all linked objects in the presentation. If Unavailable appears in the Update column it means the link for that object is broken.
2.	Click the linked object you want to reconnect, and then click Change Source.
3.	In the Change Source dialog box, locate the moved or renamed file, and then click Open.
4.	In the Links dialog box, click Update Now to update the diagram.
5.	Click Close.

Converting Linked Diagrams to Pictures

You can deliberately break a link between a slide and a Visio 2007 diagram to convert shapes to pictures that you can edit in PowerPoint 2007 using its drawing tools (see Figure 13-09). It’s best to do this only if you no longer need the diagram in the slide to match the original Visio 2007 file. In addition, a useful side-effect of breaking links is that you no longer see the Unavailable message as PowerPoint 2007 searches for linked files. If you need the Visio 2007 drawing only for the purposes of the presentation, you might find it faster to edit shapes this way.

Follow these steps to break a link:

1.	In PowerPoint 2007, click on the Edit Links To Files icon in the Quick Access toolbar.
2.	In the Links dialog box, select the link you want to break, and then click Break Link. PowerPoint 2007 discards the reference to the original Visio 2007 file, which is no longer listed in the dialog box.
3.	Click Close to convert the diagram to a metafile picture.
4.	Display the slide containing the picture. Right-click the image, then click Group, Ungroup. A message appears, asking whether you want to convert the picture to a Microsoft Office drawing object.
5.	Click Yes. The shapes and text are converted to pictures.