Update the source once. The slides, PDFs and numbers follow.

A data-heavy deck is never one update. There is the chart, the table on the next slide, the figures written into the body text, and the PDF somebody exported from all of it last quarter. Four updates shipped in August, and they pull in the same direction: change it once at the source, and let everything built on it follow.

• Excel Data Link. Link an Excel sheet on SlideHub to the charts and tables inside your slides, then drive them all from the spreadsheet.
• Linked PDFs. Tie a PDF to the presentation or Word document it came from, so it regenerates whenever the source changes.
• Template validation and management. Check new and existing slides against your master templates, filter by template, and push updates across the library.
• Custom placeholder order. Decide the order your team fills placeholders in, instead of leaving it alphabetical.

Drive every chart and table from one spreadsheet

Excel Data Link connects Excel sheets hosted on SlideHub to the charts and tables inside the slides hosted alongside them. Update the sheet, and the visuals rebuild.

This one is worth being clear about: it is a feature for the people who maintain the library, not a productivity tool for end users, and it does not replace anything PowerPoint already does well. It exists so that data-rich content stops being a recurring manual job.

How it works:

• Open the slide in the manager view and click Edit & Update in the placeholder section. SlideHub scans the slide and reports which charts and tables can be linked.
• Link to an existing sheet, or create a new Excel file and let SlideHub carry the slide's current data into it.
• Repeat for the other charts and tables, pointing them at the same file. One spreadsheet can drive a whole presentation, or every chart across the library.
• Keep your admin-managed data in that same file, and the key figures written into the text update along with the graphs.

Once it is set up, a full refresh is a minute or two of work. When the numbers change, SlideHub raises a version warning on the affected decks, so nobody presents from the old one.

This is for teams who need to:

• Refresh chart and table heavy slides from a data warehouse or reporting tool.
• Produce monthly or quarterly reporting decks without rebuilding the graphs each time.
• Update admin-managed figures across the library in a single pass.

There is a full walkthrough, including a configuration example built from scratch, on the Excel Data Link video page.

Stop PDFs from quietly going out of date

The PDF is usually the copy that travels furthest and gets checked least. It was exported once, and nothing that happened to the original since has reached it.

You can now link a PDF to the presentation or Word document it came from. When the source changes, the PDF regenerates and a new version appears for end users.

How it works:

• Find the presentation or Word document, open the dropdown in the corner, and choose Create linked PDF.
• The PDF appears in the PDF section moments later, marked as linked to its source.
• From there it maintains itself. Change the file, or change an admin-managed value the file uses, and a new version of the PDF is created with it.

Put it together with the update above and the chain runs end to end: one number changes in a spreadsheet, and it reaches the chart, the deck, and the PDF without anyone re-exporting anything.

This is for teams who need to:

• Distribute PowerPoint or Word content as PDF and keep both current.
• Publish PDFs containing figures that change on a schedule.
• Cut the risk of an outdated PDF circulating with your name on it.

Catch slides that drifted off your master template

Template validation links the master templates on your account to the slides that should be using them. That link is what makes the rest possible: scanning new uploads, filtering by template, and updating slides in bulk.

On new content, SlideHub checks the slide master as the file comes in. If it does not match an approved template, you are offered two options: ignore it, or link the slide and apply the template you select. Applied templates take effect once the slide finishes processing, and earlier versions stay available if you want to roll one back.

On your existing library, associations start empty until you run a scan. Scan everything at once, or select specific slides and scan only those. Slides then carry an icon showing their matched template, and you can filter the library by template, by no matching template, or by not yet scanned. Replacing a template updates every slide associated with it.

Four things worth knowing before you run a large update:

• Validation looks at the slide master, not the individual layouts. Changes made inside a layout are not picked up, which is deliberate: layout-level checks generate far more false warnings than they are worth.
• How a slide looks after a new master is applied depends on how much it relied on master-level rather than slide-level formatting. Results vary, so review them.
• Test on a sample first. Add the new template, apply it to a handful of representative slides, check how they came out, and only then run the replace across the library.
• Rebuilding a large number of files takes time, so schedule the big passes outside your busiest hours.

Team templates apply within their team; company-level templates apply across all of them.

Put placeholders in the order that suits the document

Placeholders are listed alphabetically by default. Managers can now arrange them in whatever order makes most sense, so your team fills them in the sequence you intended.

How it works:

• Open the slide or document in the manager view and scroll to the placeholder section.
• Click Edit & Update, then drag the placeholders into the order you want. Newly linked placeholders are added at the end.
• Click Preview to check it, and that is the order end users see from then on.

It works the same way on slides and on Word documents, so tailoring either one follows the order you had in mind.

The next quarterly deep dive

Our Q3 deep dive session is on October 8, 2026 at 3:00 PM CEST. Twenty minutes with Anders, demoing template validation and Excel Data Link on a real library, plus a look at what is coming next. Everyone who registers gets the recording.

Save your seat for the Q3 deep dive

Questions?

Ask your CSM for a walkthrough of anything above, or write to [email protected]. If you're new to SlideHub, book a demo.