st: Copying Stata graphs/output to PowerPoint

[Alan Riley <ariley@stata.com>]

In the midst of a thread regarding issues related to migrating from
SPSS to Stata, Walt Paczkowski (walt@dataanalyticscorp.com) asked
for advice on working with both Stata and Microsoft PowerPoint:

> ...
>
> Now here's the problem with Stata and many of the comments made about 
> SPSS and Stata.  The comments mentioned many times that there are ways 
> to get output into Latex for publication-quality output.  I need it in 
> PowerPoint!  And I'm sure there are many others like me (does any one 
> know the breakdown of Stata users between pure academics worried about 
> publications and consultants/business people?).  How do I take a dozen 
> graphs and get them into PowerPoint without cutting and pasting each 
> one, one at a time (as a note, S-Plus has a PowerPoint wizard that is 
> amazing and R has a package called R2PPT that works fairly well)?  How 
> do I get logit regression output into a PowerPoint slide without coping, 
> pasting, and laboriously reformatting so it looks "pretty"?  This is 
> where users like me need help.  We don't need LaTeX functions (by the 
> way, I'm also a heavy LaTeX user, preferring this over Word any day), 
> but rather functions to get things into PowerPoint.  To me, the gist of 
> the thread on SPSS and Stata is how to get useful output to give to 
> anyone, and my vote is for functions that are PowerPoint oriented.
> 
> I welcome any suggestions on how to get output into PowerPoint easily, 
> quickly, and with minimum reformatting.


Walt asked two specific questions for which the following tips may
be useful.  Note that I am using PowerPoint 2007, so menu choices
may be slightly different in other versions of PowerPoint.

   Q1) How can multiple Stata graphs be imported to PowerPoint without
       copying/pasting each one?

   A1) First, export the Stata graphs as .wmf or .emf files.  For example,

           . sysuse auto

           . scatter mpg weight
           . graph export g1.wmf

           . scatter price mpg gear_ratio
           . graph export g2.wmf

       Then, on the Insert tab of PowerPoint's ribbon bar, select
       Photo Album--New Photo Album... from the Illustration section.
       This dialog box in PowerPoint allows you to select multiple
       graphs at once, with many options for placing them on multiple
       slides, including space for titles, and so on.


   Q2) How can regression output be pasted into PowerPoint without
       the need to reformat it?

   A2) I am assuming Walt wants the output to appear in PowerPoint
       exactly as it appears in Stata.  In this case, in Stata, he
       should highlight the output he wishes to copy, then pull
       down Edit and select Copy as Picture.  He can then paste
       the output into Word, and it will look exactly as it did
       in Stata.

       Copy as Picture creates a metafile of the Stata output drawn
       exactly as Stata draws it.  Because it is a metafile, the
       output can even be resized within PowerPoint and still look
       good.

       The same thing works when using Word or any other program
       which allows metafiles to be pasted into it.
      

Alan
ariley@stata.com

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