MS-Excel Sunburst Charts when pasted or open using PDF is rastered in Illustrator 2021 on Windows 10

[defaultq6u9o7vh5ryn]

Hi folks,

I've run into an issue importing a chart from Excel to Illustrator. I know that normally, you just have to select the chart in Excel and paste in AI, or you can also save the Excel as a PDF and then open that in AI. However, for this relatively new sunburst chart type in Excel, both of those solutions result in an uneditable raster. I realize this is much more likely to be a Microsoft problem than an Adobe one, but does anyone here have any ideas on how to get around this? Thanks in advance.

I'm on a PC; Windows 10, Microsoft Office 365, Illustrator 2021.

{Reanmed by MOD}

[Anshul_Saini]

Hi there,

Sorry about the trouble. We are unable to replicate this issue at our end. Could you please share a few more details like:

• Exact Illustrator version. You can check it by going to Help menu > About Illustrator.
  
• Is this happening with specific Excel and AI documents? If yes, could you please share the Excel and AI documents with us? You can upload them to the Creative Cloud (https://helpx.adobe.com/in/creative-cloud/help/share.html) and share the download link here or via DM.
• From where are you copying charts - online Excel sheets or offline Excel sheets?
• When did this start happening? Are there any recent changes made to your system? For example, any antivirus, system updates, or web extensions installed recently, or any MS Office updates?

We are looking forward to your response.

Thanks & Regards,

Anshul Saini

[defaultq6u9o7vh5ryn]

Thanks for looking into it! It's Illustrator version 25.2.3.

I can't share the Excel file I'm working from, as this is for my job and the file contains confidential information. However, I made a similar one in a new document, with different data, and I'm having the same problem with it. If it's helpful, I've uploaded that one here:

https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/39f71b3a-8fee-4170-6a48-f9220fe3d0bb

I'm doing this from an offline Excel sheet. No specific Illustrator document; I've created a new, blank one each time I've tried to get the chart correctly in different ways.

This is the first starburst chart I've encountered, so I have no idea when the problem started -- if any recent updates have happened on my computer, I wouldn't know, as this is a work computer and updates are pushed by the IT department in the background.

Note that I found this topic on Microsoft's forum:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/msoffice/forum/all/saveexport-sunburst-and-treemap-charts-in-vec...

I did go ahead and send feedback to Microsoft about it in case the problem is on their end.

I'm surprised you are not able to replicate the problem; you're saying that when you paste a starburst chart from Excel to Illustrator, it's coming through as a vector?

[Monika Gause]

If Excel doesn't export the chart in vector format, then that's that.

[Anshul_Saini]

Thanks for sharing the file and details. I was able to replicate the issue with the file shared by you on the Windows machine but not on the Mac machine. Also, I have a sample excel file with SunBurst chart, which works on both Windows and Mac. Please try this sample file (https://shared-assets.adobe.com/link/a742d97c-9be4-4fb6-55cc-98f90439c315) on your windows machine and see if you are able to copy-paste SunBurst chart as a vector in Illustrator.

I will be looking forward to your response.

Regards,

Anshul Saini

[defaultq6u9o7vh5ryn]

Thank you! I'm able to get the chart from this file into Illustrator as three separate vectors, one for each level of the rings. It looks like maybe each ring was created as its own chart in Excel, so maybe this isn't unexpected.

[defaultq6u9o7vh5ryn]

What makes this file special? How do I get the chart in my own file to behave this way?

[Anshul_Saini · Accepted solution]

Sorry for the delayed response. I agree with @Monika Gause, as she mentioned not all Excel charts can be rendered as vector files.
I downloaded this sample excel file from the Internet. You may visit this third-party website (http://beatexcel.com/excel-sunburst-chart/) from where I downloaded this excel file. I hope you get the required information on this.

Let us know if you need any assistance in Illustrator. We'd be happy to help.

Regards,

Anshul Saini

[defaultq6u9o7vh5ryn]

Thank you -- I see what's happening now. The file you shared with me does not have an example of Excel's new built-in sunburst chart; it has a few pie charts stacked on top of each other. Pies, of course, render correctly as vectors in Illustrator. I guess these new sunbursts, at least on PC, do not. I appreciate you looking into this.

[Monika Gause]

Nice chart.

Unfortunately not all the Excel charts are rendered as vector files. Usually it's the 3D-ish types that are rasters, but looks like thios one is an exception.