UpSlide's Resize ratio automatically resizes images exported from Excel to PowerPoint/Word. Its value can be found in the UpSlide Settings in the Export tab.

You may be looking for this article because you noticed the ratio in PowerPoint isn't equal to the one found in your settings. The ratio in this example is 1, but the visual exported has a Scale in PowerPoint of 98%.

Why Scale Height and Scale Width ratios in PowerPoint may differ slightly from UpSlide’s Resize ratio?

The Scale Width and Scale Height shown in PowerPoint’s Format Picture pane may not precisely match the Resize Ratio set in UpSlide.

UpSlide exports visuals using the Enhanced Metafile (EMF) format, which involves converting Excel’s internal unit system (based on character width) into PowerPoint’s standard measurements (centimeters or inches).

The difference comes from how Excel and PowerPoint handle unit conversions, including rounding, borders, and differences in rendering logic between the two applications.

Example:

You export a one-column table from Excel with a column width of 1.90 cm and a Resize Ratio of 1 in UpSlide

In PowerPoint, you might see:

• Original Width: 1.91 cm (rounded due to Excel’s cell borders)
• Displayed Width: 1.86 cm (after PowerPoint applies its rendering)

PowerPoint calculates the Scale Width as:

1.86 ÷ 1.90 = 0.978, rounded to 98%

The resize ratio defined within UpSlide is applied precisely as specified.
Any slight difference in PowerPoint’s Format Picture pane is due to how Office apps handle units, borders, and rendering, and doesn’t affect the final visual result.

Going Deeper

Excel units, rounding, and rendering differences between Excel and PowerPoint

When a visual is extracted from Excel for export, the default unit of measurement isn't centimeters or inches, as it is in PowerPoint or Word. Instead, one unit of column width in Excel is equivalent to the width of a single character in the "Normal" style of the active workbook.

This character-based unit is converted to a standard unit (like cm or inches) during the link creation.

Impact of borders

When UpSlide exports a chart, it aims to fit the image within the space the chart would occupy without these added borders. In contrast, Excel considers the borders and enlarges the original image.

In Excel

• The delimitation of the border chart splits the border into two parts (5pt inside and 5pt outside).
• If the two charts are superimposed perfectly, their delimitations are precisely aligned, meaning that the border does not change the size of the chart but expands inwards and outwards.

Superimposed charts, with and without a 10pt border. Delimitations and chart area elements match perfectly but the delimitations split the border in two.

In PowerPoint

When a chart without any border is exported, whether as a static image or through our link, the resulting size in PowerPoint precisely matches the original dimensions in Excel, thus maintaining a 100% scale.

In this scenario, the scale also effectively remains at 100% because Excel has already calculated and applied this enlarged size during the copy process, and PowerPoint directly adopts these values.
The image with the border appears visually larger than its borderless counterpart, with the added size directly corresponding to the outward extension of the border.

When a chart with a border is exported using an UpSlide link, the initial size adopted is identical to that of a static image export, reflecting the enlarged dimensions calculated by Excel.
However, UpSlide then attempts to align the linked export's size with what it would be if the chart had no borders.
To maintain the correct aspect ratio during this adjustment, the size cannot be perfectly matched to the borderless version, often resulting in a linked chart that is slightly taller. Consequently, a discrepancy arises between the original, border-inclusive size from Excel and the final rendered size of the UpSlide link in PowerPoint.

The discrepancy in scale ratios depends on the point of reference.

If the original Excel chart with borders is the reference, the PowerPoint scale will be less than 100% because UpSlide aims for the chart size without borders.

If the no-border chart size is the implicit reference, the scale is effectively 100%.

The thicker the border, the more significant the difference in scale when referencing the original, border-inclusive chart size.