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I've tried exporting a chart (I have over 50) from excel as .pdf format but the fonts get changed and blurry. It looks good as a .xps file but pdflatex does not recognise this format.

Any thoughts?

Regards,

EDIT:

After a bit of reading I have worked out what is happening. The screen version of the pdf which excel exports is a raster image of the chart and looks terrible. However, the pdflatex compiled version looks actually quite good. Not sure why that is, anyone know?

SOLUTION This is the link where I found the how but not the why.

HCAI
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  • possible duplicate of Is it possible to put MS Excel graphs into a LaTeX document? – mafp Mar 06 '13 at 16:49
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    I don't think this is a duplicate, but it might be off topic since the problem likely lies with Excel's PDF generation. I've had this problem before with Excel charts. – Alan Munn Mar 06 '13 at 16:58
  • @user1134241 Did you try opening .xls with libreoffice and then exporting to pdf ? I don't have any MS products, so i cannot test. BTW check datatool – texenthusiast Mar 06 '13 at 17:15
  • May I suggest you to switch to LibreOffice (OpenOffice)? I've tried to export a small graph into PDF and it seems there is no rasterization of the graph.... – Lionel MANSUY Mar 06 '13 at 17:16
  • You may probably try to buy a license for Adobe Acrobat: it could probably help to export the content to a better PDF output (I can test this tomorrow) – Lionel MANSUY Mar 06 '13 at 17:31
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    If you have your data for the tables available as a text file (possibly CSV) then there are solutions to generate the charts directly from LaTeX. Doing it this route avoids inconsistencies in fonts and/or scaling. Furthermore, your charts will have a consistent look and feel. –  Mar 06 '13 at 18:58
  • @MarcvanDongen This is definitely true... having same fonts and layout is very important. Actually this might be easier in the longrun if I can find some good packages (tikz?) – HCAI Mar 06 '13 at 21:10
  • @user1134241 use pgfplots (based on TikZ) – Lionel MANSUY Mar 06 '13 at 22:04
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    @user1134241 I'd also recommend pgfplots for plots, and using it will definitely save you time in the long run. –  Mar 06 '13 at 22:34
  • @mafp I cannot believe this question is closed as off topic. Are you suggesting importing graphs into LaTeX is not related to LaTeX? –  Mar 06 '13 at 22:37
  • @MarcvanDongen Please reread my comment: I voted for duplicate. The duplicate question I nominated seems to have a good answer, that also addresses fonts. I don't know why the grey box below says I voted for off-topic, the box is lying! – mafp Mar 06 '13 at 23:26
  • @MarcvanDongen A second thought: the question is not about importing graphs into LaTeX, but how to produce a "good" graph with Excel. It is an Excel question. – mafp Mar 07 '13 at 00:19
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    @mafp The question was closed as off topic. Lots of LaTeX users used to use gnuplot to export eps and import them into LaTeX. "Missing characters in gnuplot generated eps while compiling pdf" (generating pictures with gnuplot) was considered on-topic. The user wants to know how to generate pictures with program X and use them in LaTeX. I'd find this on topic. Labelling the question as off-topic without explanation I find intimidating (but that's the system for u). –  Mar 07 '13 at 05:03
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    @MarcvanDongen As I wrote, I did not vote for off topic. I even agree with you that the rules here are sometimes quite strict: recently a question how to reformat a bib file was closed as off topic, because "you can use bib files outside of LaTeX"! I also agree that an explanation why a question is off topic should be given, but tell that to the people who actually voted for off topic. – mafp Mar 07 '13 at 09:02
  • @mafp I'm sorry, but if you weren't in favour of closing this question as off topic, then how can your name end up in the list of people who closed this question as off topic? If you cannot support the claim that this question is off topic, I think you should take your name off the list. BTW I'm only addressing you because your name is on the list and because I can only send my comments to the OP and one more person. –  Mar 07 '13 at 10:14
  • Ok. I think this is question is relevant insofar that the information about raster images appearing on screen within pdf documents is valid for anyone using pdflatex, regardless of the source (Excel, gnuplot, matlab, younameit). The crux of the matter is that pdflatex extracts the correct version once compiled. Having said this, the question is now partially solved. So I would say that it is fine to close it, but not delete it, as I only came across this information in an obscure post somewhere. – HCAI Mar 07 '13 at 10:36
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    @MarcvanDongen I guess it went this way: I voted for duplicate, and the other four people voted for off topic. This gave five close votes, with a majority for off topic. So my name ended up in the list in the grey box. Anyway, you might bring the issue of narrow off topic decisions to Meta. – mafp Mar 07 '13 at 13:54
  • I'm sorry, I got lost after "high quality charts from excel" </snark> – Matthew Leingang Mar 07 '13 at 14:29
  • @MatthewLeingang: Heh... But I think the right way to look at the question is that it is asking about how to best to keep styling/formatting information from an Excel chart when converting to Latex. – Charles Stewart Mar 08 '13 at 10:36
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    Thanks all. The best thing that came out of this discussion was pgfplot and TiKz. IF I had the time these would be the best bet. I'm a month away from submitting my phd so perhaps it will have to be bedtime reading. – HCAI Mar 08 '13 at 12:05
  • @CharlesStewart: True that. I was only half jesting. – Matthew Leingang Mar 10 '13 at 16:53

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