Crystal Report Data in PowerPoint

[jedownsjr]

Can anyone please provide any suggestions on methods to automated Crystal Reports data in PowerPoint? The purpose is to automatically update PowerPoint presentations without having to manually re-key data to update them.

I have some embedded Excel worksheets in PowerPoint slides which I would like to automate using Crystal Reports data. I would like to export data from a Crystal Report to Excel format, then link the embedded worksheets to refresh using that updated data. Or ... some other method to get my updated data into the PowerPoint slides so that I don't have to retype all the numbers into the embedded Excel worksheets within PowerPoint. I have not been able to get any linking to work yet to my exported data, so I may be trying something that is not intended to work (linking embedded worksheets to another Excel file).

Using BOE XI R2, CR XI & PowerPoint 2007.

Thanks for any ideas.

 

[fisheromacse]

Where is the data stored? Access? MSSQL? ???

Is there a reason you are unable to use the data import/link functions within Excel to refresh the data?
(Data -> Get External Data -> From Other Sources->Select Appropriate Option)

Crystal is a report making tool, not a data collection/exporting tool.

What you ask may be possible, but i don't see how without excessive effort.
Hopefully someone else will chime in and prove me wrong.

 

[briangriffin]

Since you have BOE already it may be worth investing in Live Office, depending on the frequency and urgency of your need. It would do what you want effortlessly - embed CR content into Powerpoint, Word, or Excel, and refresh with one click.

 

[jedownsjr]

Thanks to you both for the replies. The data is in an external database, but it is available to reporting from Crystal Reports, where I can then schedule to export to Excel, CSV, etc. The end product is a PowerPoint presentation which currently has embedded Excel spreadsheets which have to be manually updated since there is no "export to PowerPoint" option from Crystal or BOE.

I need to spend some time reviewing the first answer about refreshing from Excel using the external data options. This might be a viable solution for a partially-automated workaround.

LiveOffice is not an option at this time as it would require additional purchase. Otherwise that might be an answer.

Thanks to you both. I will continue researching and still open to any more ideas!