Convert all OLE objects to grouped MSDraw objects

Problem

When you have a presentation that includes lots of OLE objects (Excel or Word content, MSGraph charts, etc), you may want to ungroup all of these.

Ungrouping removes the underlying Excel data and leaves you with just a picture of the graph or table, NOT your entire original worksheet. This way the recipient can't edit your worksheet data.

Ungrouping saves the time consuming step of converting metafiles when you open the presentation on a Mac.

It can be quite tedious to step through an entire presentation looking for all of the shapes you need to ungroup, though.

Solution

The following macro will do the job for you, automatically. It ungroups and then regroups each embedded or linked OLE object in the presentation.

Please use it only on a COPY of your original as its effects are NOT reversible.

Sub OLEOLEOutInFree()
' Converts OLE shapes to groups

    Dim oSh As Shape
    Dim oSl As Slide
    Dim oNewSh As Shape

    For Each oSl In ActivePresentation.Slides
        For Each oSh In oSl.Shapes
            If oSh.Type = msoEmbeddedOLEObject Or oSh.Type = msoLinkedOLEObject Then
                On Error Resume Next
                Set oNewSh = oSh.Ungroup.Group
                If Err.Number > 0 Then
                    MsgBox Err.Number & vbCrLf & Err.Description & vbCrLf _
                        & "on slide " & CStr(oSl.SlideIndex) _
                        & "shape named " & oSh.Name
                End If
            End If
        Next
    Next

End Sub

See How do I use VBA code in PowerPoint? to learn how to use this example code.

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