I haven't noticed this problem in any SP of Excel 2003, but I will tell you
that it gets worse in Excel 2007. Opening a ticket will not provide any
relief even if SP2 is still supported.

One way to improve results is to resize the charts in Excel to the size you
need in PowerPoint, before you copy them in the first place. This minimizes
the distortion created by resizing and reshaping the charts.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Peltier Technical Services, Inc.
http://PeltierTech.com/WordPress/
Advanced Excel Conference - Training in Charting and Programming
http://peltiertech.com/Training/2009...00906ACNJ.html
_______


"Amedee Van Gasse" wrote in message
...
Hello,

First let me say that the problem at hand is very difficult to
investigate if you don't have multiple virtual machines to play with
and roll back when needed.

Situation:
Windows XP sp2 + only security updates
Office 2003 sp2 + only security updates

Procedu
User has made several charts in Excel, all on one page.
Select 2 or 3 charts that are close together with ctrl+click.
Group the selected charts.
Hold shift.
Edit - Copy picture.
Appearance: as shown on screen; Format: Picture.
Open Powerpoint.
Paste (CTRL+V)
Resize the pictu drag on one side to make it wider.

Result:
The text on the charts, for example X axis values, becomes unreadable:
the numbers are too close together, font is deformed,...

Also tested:
* same procedure, on Windows XP sp2 + Office 2003 no sp -- OK
* same procedure, on Windows XP sp2 + Office 2003 sp2 + no security
updates -- OK
* same procedure, on Windows XP sp3 + Office 2003 sp3 + security
updates -- NOK

Hypothesis:
One of the Office security updates between sp2 and sp3 also intoduced
a changed behaviour of pasted charts/pictures in Powerpoint.

The affected user wants me to open a ticket with Microsoft, but I'm
afraid that this will lead nowhere. Do they still support Office 2003
sp2? I don't think so, if I look at the lifecycle:
http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/?p1=2488
We will probably install sp3 in a month or so, but I have already
verified that it does not solve the problem.

Questions:
* Can anyone confirm this problem?
* How can I get the old behaviour back?



Kind regards,
Amedee