Charting 1

PowerPoint has an internal charting function. It can create charts from data in most of the common chart types. Thebiggest advantage is that the data is stored internally in the PowerPoint file and can be edited and updated without havingto keep track of an external file. The disadvantage is that there is no math capability. The data has to be in it’s final form.Data can also be imported from spreadsheet applications.

(Note: there are capabilities for importing charts created in spreadsheet programs and even hot linking of spreadsheet dataso that if the spreadsheet changes, the chart in the Powerpoint file changes. This handout does not cover this kind of capability)

The charting utility in Microsoft Word is identical to this one in Powerpoint, and the charting features of Excel share manyof the same characteristics.

There are several ways to access the chartingfunction

There are three autolayouts which include a chart.

Text and chart with text on the left.The text behaves like a bulleted list.

Text and chart with text on the right

Chart filling the whole width of the slide.

Charts can also be inserted on any slide using theChart command under the Insert menu or byclicking on the Insert Chart button on the Standardtoolbar.

A note on nomenclature

Although Microsoft refers to this utility as Microsoft Graph, almost everywherein it and in Powerpoint they refer to these graphs as charts, so we will also usethe term chart to refer to a graph drawn from data.

re

Charting 2

Entering your data

When you first access a chart,Powerpoint switches to the chartingmode. Notice that the standard andformatting toolbars have changed toreflect functions for working with charts.

A data sheet window will appear, whichis already filled in. You must replacethis data with your data.

Notice that the first row and firstcolumn are unlabeled. They arereserved for the series and categorylabels. When you scroll around thedata sheet, these labels remain visible.

If you are working with a lot of datathe datasheet can be resized like anywindow.

In this exercise, we’ll use the following data:

Faculty Students

Seeing 15% 65%

Reading 65% 15%

Hearing 10% 10%

Since we have only two categories (Students andFaculty) instead of the four in the original set (1st,2nd, 3rd & 4th quarter), we have to get rid of thelast two columns.

Simply click and drag over the cells in question toselect them, and choose Delete from the Edit menu.You can see the chart behind the data sheet hasupdated to reflect the change, but is interpretingthose cells as having a value of zero, instead of notbeing considered at all..

Charting 3

While the cells are still selected, Choose Exclude Row/Columnfrom the Data menu, and then Columns from the dialogue boxwhich appears. The chart will change to reflect the exclusionof the two empty columns. (You actually don’t have to deletethe cells, but it’s confusing to have that extra data there.)

To enter the new data, click on the appropriatecell and type in the new data. As you enter newdata, the chart will update to reflect the change.

Note: you can also import data from Excel, Lotus1-2-3, or SYLK files with the Import File commandunder the Edit menu, even specifying certain cellranges. Make sure the source file (or range) has theseries and category labels in the top row and lefthandcolumn, and select the upper left hand corner cellin the Powerpoint datasheet when you do the import.

To view and edit the chart, click on the close box at the rightside of the title bar of the data sheet.

If you need to revise the data sheet, you can choose Datasheetfrom the View menu or click on the View Datasheet icon onthe standard toolbar.

There are some modificationsthat can be done to the datawhen viewing the data sheet.

You can change the format andprecision of the numbers in thecells by choosing Number underthe Format menu.

Note the definition of thepercentage format. It does notconvert each cell to its percentageof the column.

Note that you can also transposeseries and categories withcommands under the Data menu.

Charting 4

With the datasheet closed, it can be alittle confusing to determine whetheryou are in the Charting function or inPowerPoint’s normal editing functions.

You are still in the Charting functionwhen the chart is outlined with theheavy, hash marked line, and thetoolbars reflect the functions associatedwith charting.

Clicking anywhere outside the chartarea will return you to the normalediting mode. The selected chart willindicated by just the handles and thetoolbars will revert to the normalediting functions. The Draw toolbarwill reappear if it was displayed.

To return to the Charting function,double click on the chart.

Note: In the Macintosh version, youhave to select Quit and return from theFile menu to return to the normal editingmode.

Charting 5

Changing chart type

You can change the type of chart by pulling down the menuunder the Chart type icon on the Standard toolbar. A moreextensive set of choices can be accessed by choosing the ChartType command on the Chart menu

There are tabs at the top of the dialogue box to choose betweenStandard Types, each of which may provide several variationsselected by the icons to the right, or Custom Types which includeadditional specialized variations.

Adding your own types

After you have modified a chart to meet your particular requirements(see following section), you can add those characteristics as a typeto the User-defined chart types.

In the Custom Types window, click on the User-defined radio buttonto access the list of user-defined types. To add the current chart asa type, click the Add button. Give the chart a Name and a descriptionwhich will appear in the description area of the dialogue box.

Note:

This only savesthe characteristicsof the chart,which will beapplied to thedata in thecurrent datasheetwhen you chooseit as a chart type.

Charting 6

Modifying characteristics of charts

In addition to changing its type, almost any characteristic of a chart can be modified inorder to more effectively present the data..

There are two ways to modify the characteristics of a chart, by choosing Chart Optionsfrom the Chart menu, or by selecting a component of a chart and double clicking on it.

There are several tabs across the top of the ChartOptions dialogue box, each of which will give you choicesfor that element. In this example, the Gridlines have beenturned off by unchecking the appropriate check boxes.

Notice that turning them on and off is the only changeyou can make to the gridlines in this dialogue box. Youcan change other characteristics by double clicking oneof the gridlines on the chart

Clicking on a component of the chart will select it. Ifyou hold the cursor over the component, a flag shouldappear to identify it.

Double clicking will present a dialogue box which mayhave several tabs for modifying various characteristicsof that component.

Some characteristics are shared by several components.For example, you can change the scale of the value axisby either selecting the gridlines or by selecting the valueaxis itself.

Charting 7

When modifying data elements on a chart, you have to be careful to note whether you are selecting an entireseries, or a single element in that series. The first time you click, it should select the whole series, a secondclick will select only the individual element..

Single handle on each element.Entire series is selected

Handles on one element alone

Error Bars

Most graphing programs include error bars as a separateentry on the data table. In PowerPoint, they are a propertyof an individual series or an individual element in a series.

To create error bars, click on the series or individualelement in a series, choose the Error bars tab (It may belisted as X or Y Error bars depending on the orientationof your chart), choose the type of error bars, and enterthe value.

The formatting dialogue box for any element can also beaccessed by selecting that element and choosing the topcommand on the Format menu. The wording of thecommand will change to reflect the element that has beenselected.

Charting 8

Resizing charts

The outside border of a chart will havehandles either in the main editing mode ofPowerpoint or in the Charting mode.

Clicking and dragging on any of these handleswill resize the graph, but there will bedifferences in the way text is resized.

In the main editing mode of Powerpoint, thetype will be distorted if the graph is notresized proportionately, that is, if a graph isresized horizontally to half its width withoutchanging the height, all the type will bedistorted in the same way.

In the Charting mode mode, when thesize of a chart is reduced, the type will bereduced in size, but will retain its normalletterforms.

After reducing a chart in the charting mode,you can edit the font characteristics of thevarious elements of the chart to increasethe type sizes. Powerpoint may adjust therelationship of the elements to compensatefor these changes.

By selecting certain elements, such as thechart area, or the legend you can rearrangethem and resize them individually.

Charting 9

Sequentially presenting data

A chart can be placed in the animation order of a slide like anyother object. There are special settings for charts which controlthe sequence of the presentation of chart elements.

Some entry animation effects are more appropriate than othersfor certain types of charts. For example, using Wipe Right witha bar chart will make the the individual elements seem to growin value.

If there is some modification you cannotdo in the charting utility or specialsequencing that you have in mind, suchas adding a comment in between chartelements, you can select Ungroup fromthe Draw menu in the normal editingmode of Powerpoint.

You will receive a warning message thatungrouping will break any links with thedata. After ungrouping, the chart cannotbe updated by changing the data, andthe datasheet itself is discarded.

Ungrouping will convert all the chartelements to normal Powerpoint objectsthat can be modified with the drawingtools or regrouped to work with yoursequencing idea.

You can add objects to the slide with the drawing tools (even ontop the chart, like additional labels or arrows), but the chart itselfmust go in the sequence order as one piece, and all elements ofthe chart must be revealed before adding new elements.