figure copied in powerpoint have cumbersome grid objects

In previous versions of Matlab (like 2012) copying a figure as metafile and then pasting it into powerpoint provided an easily editable graphic object. In particular, the gridlines of the figure showed up OK in powerpoint, even after "ungrouping" the figure.

With 2014b and 2015a, they still do look OK when you paste the figure, but as soon as you "ungroup" it to edit it in powerpoint, the gridlines become solid and really thick and ugly. A closer look shows them to be made of a strange collection of nested objects (at least three) that cannot be simply modified in powerpoint (such as thickness, linestyle etc.) because they are not lines, but actually rectangles and even weirder stuff. They can't be left as they are, either, as they really look ugly.

This did not happen with Matlab 2012 and as a (terrible) workaround I have to ask colleagues that still have 2012 to open up the figure with the old version, copy it, paste it into powerpoint and send me the pptx file. Awful. But it works.

Is there a way to go back to good old 2012, at least in this respect? Why can't metafile grid objects just be lines in 2015a?

Thanks a lot for your help.

[Jonnie]

Ditto. After we upgraded to 2016b at work, every time I paste a metafile plot into Powerpoint and Ungroup it, the grid lines turn into ugly rectangles. Unfortunately, I don't have the access to the same workaround you do, OP, as I was the last one in my group to upgrade to 2016b.