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Formatting the Chart
The Chart Tools > Design tab also has an option allowing you to change the type of chart you are using. On the Chart Tools > Layout tab are options for annotating a chart with shapes and a textbox and adjusting elements such as the Chart Title, Axes, Gridlines, etc.
On the Chart Tools > Format tab are options for formatting chart elements, including using WordArt styles to create a more interesting chart title. To do this, click the chart title and then select a WordArt style to use for the chart title. Here too, you can configure styles for the box which surrounds the chart title, including creating a filled box by choosing a filled border option.
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Animating a Chart
Charts in PowerPoint can be animated in various ways. For example, click on the chart, choose the Animations tab and then select one of the animation options such as By Series or By Category.
These options animate the chart so that it appears on the slide in pieces rather than all at once. You can use the Custom Animation tools to adjust the animation sequence and fine tune it.
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Saving a Chart
One of the features of PowerPoint that is not available in the other applications in the Microsoft Office suite is the ability to save a chart as a picture. To do this, right click the chart area and choose Save as Picture and then choose a save format such as JPEG, PNG, TIFF or BMP.
When you save a chart as a picture you can use it as a static element later on, for example, to illustrate a Word document containing your presentation notes.
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Save a Chart Template
When you create and format a chart inside PowerPoint you may want to save the format to use elsewhere in the presentation. To do this, select the chart and choose the Save As Template button on the Chart Tools > Design tab. Type a name for the chart template and click Save.
In future you can use this same template to format a different chart by selecting the chart and choosing Chart Tools > Design tab, and from the Change Chart Type dialog select the Templates option, select the saved template, and click OK. The selected chart will readjust to match the look of the template chart.
If the data does not appear in the chart, select the newly formatted chart and choose Chart Tools > Design tab and click Refresh Data or choose Edit Data, wait until Excel opens displaying the data and click to close Excel — this will refresh the chart.
The new integration between PowerPoint 2007 and Excel 2007 allows you to create attractive charts inside your PowerPoint slideshows. These charts have all the design potential of charts that you create inside Excel so they look good, they can be formatted using Themes, and they are a lot more sophisticated than charts you could create in earlier versions of PowerPoint using the MS Chart tool.
Helen Bradley is a respected international journalist writing regularly for small business and computer publications in the USA, Canada, South Africa, UK and Australia. She blogs at http://www.projectwoman.com/blogger.html.
Be sure to check out all of Helen's articles in the Exploring Office 2007 series:
