Copy features to PPT，like 'Copy map to clipboard' and pasting into PowerPoint

qjyang

Copy map to clipboard existed under the Edit menu in ArcMap, but no existing functionality exists in Pro. Using "Copy map to clipboard' and pasting into PowerPoint was the quickest way to build presentations. Well done, but this tool is just a screenshot in ArcGIS Pro 2.8，but I want to copy features and can ungroup them in PowerPoint。

SimonSchütte_ct · ‎12-20-2022

Maybe exporting the features as SVG is an option?
https://pro.arcgis.com/en/pro-app/latest/help/sharing/overview/svg-or-svgz-export.htm

qjyang · ‎10-14-2023

thank u，good ideal@SimonSchütte_ct

davedoesgis · ‎12-11-2023

@qjyang, @SimonSchütte_ct -The goal of this (for me, anyhow) is to get a layout into final draft form and then turn it over to non-GIS users to do what they need to with it. Doing this for a map might be cool, but I'd be more interested in a layout. I'd ideally like them to be able to move anno around and edit the text. I don't envision them needing to edit the point/line/poly features or attributes. I work at a large federal customer of Esri's, and we have access to all the ArcGIS licenses we need; the issue is I need to turn this over to people who will never learn Pro. Fiddling with the anno is super time consuming, especially all the communication with someone else wanting to tweak it after it's supposedly final. I would be happy using any tool that works, but I'd say PowerPoint is in the sweet spot of us having licenses, approval to use it on our computers, and usability.

I tried exporting to SVG and bringing that into PowerPoint. It brings it in like a picture, in that all I can do is resize it and move it around. The font kerning is a bit messed up, too, though PowerPoint may be to blame.

Right-clicking on the image, there is a 'Convert to Shape' option in the context menu. That takes everything in the image and converts it to shapes. Unfortunately, it mangled some things, like cross hatching polygon fills now seem to hatch the polygons' envelopes, not their actual boundaries. Polygon shading worked ok and the font kerning issue went away.

When I tried to move some anno labels around, things got weird. Each letter in the anno is a separate object. I tried to select them all and move them together, but you can't draw a box around them. Even clicking on each letter to select it was a challenge. When you click, you never really know what you're going to select and I was just as likely to select a coastline or something else. I never managed to select a callout box or leader line.

If I were to pursue the SVG route more, I'd probably export everything I want fixed (like map features) as an image. Then, I'd export the things I want my users to be able to edit (anno, title, legend) as SVG and overlay that on the background image in PPT. I still don't have a lot of confidence that this would be a good user experience, so I agree with the original idea that some development would help. The biggest obstacle seems to be that things get weird on the "Convert to Shape" operation. Since this is in PowerPoint and out of Esri's control, I am not confident that it would be a good solution. It seems like there would always be "just one more" thing that doesn't quite work right. If I were a project manager on this, I'd consider adding a separate export to PowerPoint option, rather than continuing down the SVG route.

SimonSchütte_ct · ‎12-12-2023

PowerPoint has really limited capabilities for editing graphics.
There is a PowerPoint plugin by Esri Invigorate your PowerPoint slideshows with ArcGIS for Office (esri.com), but this is for online maps not for static exports.

Potential alternatives:
- ArcGIS Maps for Adobe Creative Cloud | Download (esri.com) is ideal for professional design users.
- Adobe Acrobat Pro can handle exported PDF files and allows moving elements within the document.
- Inkscape can handle PDF and SVG files and provides various editing options.

davedoesgis · ‎12-12-2023

@SimonSchütte_ct -

Agreed that PPT isn't the best environment to edit graphics in, but... and hear me out... it does do a good job manipulating basic shapes and text. I get it that it's not a free product, but it's on just about every office worker's computer already and just about everyone knows how to use it.

I agree that Illustrator and Acrobat Pro would technically be better programs, but they require extra licensing costs and training that PowerPoint doesn't. Heck, I could get my colleagues a license of ArcGIS Pro more easily that Acrobat Pro.