Reduce file size for charts pasted from excel into word
- by Steve Clanton
I have been creating reports by copying some charts and data from an excel document into a word document. I am pasting into a content control, so i use ChartObject.CopyPicture in excel and ContentControl.Range.Paste in word. This is done in a loop:
Set ws = ThisWorkbook.Worksheets("Charts")
With ws
For Each cc In wordDocument.ContentControls
If cc.Range.InlineShapes.Count > 0 Then
scaleHeight = cc.Range.InlineShapes(1).scaleHeight
scaleWidth = cc.Range.InlineShapes(1).scaleWidth
cc.Range.InlineShapes(1).Delete
.ChartObjects(cc.Tag).CopyPicture Appearance:=xlScreen, Format:=xlPicture
cc.Range.Paste
cc.Range.InlineShapes(1).scaleHeight = scaleHeight
cc.Range.InlineShapes(1).scaleWidth = scaleWidth
ElseIf ...
Next cc
End With
Creating these reports using Office 2007 yielded files that were around 6MB, but creating them (using the same worksheet and document) in Office 2010 yields a file that is around 10 times as large.
After unzipping the docx, I found that the extra size comes from emf files that correspond to charts that are pasted in using VBA. Where they range from 360 to 900 KB before, they are 5-18 MB. And the graphics are not visibly better.
I am able to CopyPicture with the format xlBitmap, and while that is somewhat smaller, it is larger than the emf generated by Office 2007 and noticeably poorer quality. Are there any other options for reducing the file size? Ideally, I would like to produce a file with the same resolution for the charts as I did using Office 2007. Is there any way that uses VBA only (without modifying the charts in the spreadsheet)?
