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I have a Google Sheets with data from which I've created a few charts using the built-in charting tool. Now, I'd like to download these charts in a format I can use in a PDF document I create locally (I would prefer .pdf, but .png is OK too).

However, when I select the chart and choose "Save image" I get a low-resolution .png, in which my font choices are not enforced (they look fine in the online version).

How do I download the charts as (preferably vectorized) images in high quality?

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12 Answers 12

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It looks like there is nothing you can do from the options that they give you, since the build in functionality to Save Image or Copy Chart, results to a low-resolution images.

A wild idea would be to do the following (if you really want to have a high-res result, but this is not something that you could do for many charts):

  • Click on Publish Chart
  • Choose Interactive Chart
  • Copy it
  • Paste it in a blank .html file
  • Put in Public Dropbox Folder
  • And you'll get a chart like this one
  • Maximize your window
  • Get a screenshot

You could take it to another level if you want, by zooming that page, getting several screenshots and gluing them all together for a very hi-resolution result (the zooming thing if you'll try to do it from the Google Docs UI you'll get a nice little error):

hi-res screenshot

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  • Although this is really not what I wanted to hear, I suppose it answers my question: What I wanted to do (download high-res plots generated in Google Spreadsheets, many times) does not seem to have a good solution then, but it's an interesting suggestion for a workaround. Not something I'll use though - it's too much work. I'll have to resort to some other plotting tool instead.
    – Tomas Aschan
    Commented Mar 27, 2012 at 0:32
  • @TomasLycken What about downloading the file as .xls and then opening it with Microsoft Excel..?! Still not the best but it could work..
    – Lipis
    Commented Mar 27, 2012 at 1:00
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    Two problems with that: 1) I don't have Microsoft Excel, and I don't want to buy it just to do this. 2) I tried doing that with OpenOffice Calc, but it turned out the graphs weren't very compatible so I had to re-do all the graphing and then it took a lot more work to make it look as nice. I doubt Excel would do much different than OpenOffice...
    – Tomas Aschan
    Commented Mar 27, 2012 at 2:36
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Just use the standard print dialog in Chrome (File -> Print / do not use the shortcut cmd+p, as this opens up a Google sheet specific print pop-up) and chose "save as PDF" (tried on a Mac/OSX). This exports the charts in a vector format. There is no need for a Chromium add-on.

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  • What is cmd+p ?
    – serenesat
    Commented Sep 22, 2015 at 18:02
  • Sadly I get a very low res pdf which looks like it is exported from a png
    – mcy
    Commented Dec 20, 2016 at 12:17
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Google Charts are HTML5 SVG objects. Means vectors. Means highest possible quality. I still do not get it why Google doesn't provide native solution to export in SVG.

Google Chart to SVG vector file

Follow these steps:

  1. Create chart in Spreadsheet
  2. From the chart menu choose Publish to the web
  3. Select your chart from the list and choose Interactive
  4. Copy URL and open in new browser tab
  5. Install Chrome extension Export to SVG with Style
  6. Click the extension icon, it'll save your chart as an SVG file
  7. You have saved your chart as a vector file!

Alternatively, if you do not want to install the extension you can copy SVG element from the published pages HTML source and save it as an svg file, like this:

  1. Open chart page in a browser tab (previous list step 4)
  2. View HTML source or use browser developer tools
  3. Copy SVG element from <svg all the way to </svg>
  4. Paste into the plain text editor
  5. Save as SVG file (add extension .svg at the end of the file)

SVG to high resolution image

If you want to export your SVG file as a high quality image you can do it online for free with CloudConvert (remember to set high resolution or density before exporting).

Here's my PNG image exported using CloudConvert. Exported PNG image

Notes

There is a known issue with "clip-path" embedded attribute which prevents some programs to read correctly the exported SVG file.

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  • 2
    It appears they are not SVG anymore, and are now <canvas> instead, looks like we need an "Export Canvas with Style" now.
    – Elijah Lynn
    Commented Apr 27, 2018 at 8:58
  • Agreed. This is out of date.
    – Raffi
    Commented Aug 28, 2018 at 17:47
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Update from 2017, now Google Sheets provides a way for to download the charts by clicking on the three vertical dots at the top rightmost corner of the chart and clicking on save image. Even though the question requested in pdf format, but also stated png would be ok.

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  • The resolution is still poor by default, so this is true, but does not solve the problem.
    – cduston
    Commented Apr 10, 2018 at 13:52
  • It is 2019 and this method now directly allows to save any chart as PNG, PDF, and even SVG.
    – runDOSrun
    Commented Dec 2, 2019 at 14:38
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Try converting the page using the "Save as PDF" Chromium add-on. It converts the chart to vectorised PDF. Next, open it up in Inkscape, which converts the PDF to SVG directly. There you can remove all the messy stuff from the add-on and voilà! You can now save it to PDF again or keep it in SVG.

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  • 10 years later this is the only way that worked for me. Instead of using the add-on to create the pdf I chose "File --> Download --> PDF" within Google Sheets. Inkscape converts it to a svg that looks pretty much exactly like the pdf. Then it is possible to export as png with transparent background in whatever resolution you like. Thanks for the answer!
    – René K
    Commented Aug 24 at 9:17
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I have been struggling with poor chart resolution from Google Sheets. The above above suggestions did not work for me (as of Nov 2017, Win 10, latest Chrome browser) to get the charts acquired as SVG files. However, I did find that if I select File and Print, the image of the chart can be zoomed in using the Google buttons that appear on the lower right hand corner when the mouse hovers of the chart area (not the browser zoom). At that point you can right-click and copy the image at a very high resolution into your desired bitmap program (MS Paint in my case) and the print the document in PDF. The image is crisp and not terribly pix-elated when printed on Letter format.

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Google Doc has an option "Move to own sheet" when you click on the 3 dots at the top right of the image.

Once you do this you get a new sheet which just has the chart. You can then download that sheet as pdf by clicking on File -> Download as -> pdf.

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Not exactly HD, but a good solution I found is PrntScreen and then cropping the image on my word document (of course this is easier on a Mac, just Cmd/Shft/4 and then choosing the screen area desired). I use about 5 secs more than Saving Image/Inserting it, so for 100 graphs (which is much less than the ones I use) that would be 8-9 minutes more.

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Just figured out the easiest way.

  1. Click on the chart in Google Doc
  2. Ctrl + C
  3. Go to Gmail and compose a new mail
  4. Ctrl + V
  5. Mail to yourself
  6. You can see a download button next to the chart image from your sent mail
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I find that using google drawings to do this is fairly easy.

  1. Create a new google drawing
  2. Copy-paste the chart into the drawing
  3. Download the drawing as a pdf / png / whatever you'd like
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I tried all the above methods specified including SVG, publishing the link etc., But unfortunately, I could not able to download the high-quality chart.

No problem !! I got the solution using the download option in PDF format.

After creating the chart in the Google sheets, click on the three dots present in the top right of the chart. There you will find the option "Move to own sheet". Click on it it will move the chart to the separate sheet. There in the top right, you will find the Download option, & please download in pdf format.

That's it, you will get your chart in the best quality. If we want it in .png, try using a snippet tool. Check out my imageImage.

Thanks.

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-5

There is an add-on by name Chart Exporter, you can bulk export the charts to png or jpg.

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