Adding and Editing Charts

Quick reference

• 00:04 This is one of two videos where we look at inserting and
• 00:07 working with charts in PowerPoint, specifically inserting the chart,
• 00:12 the chart types, and working with some data and a little bit of formatitng.
• 00:16 So let's begin by going to slide 2.
• 00:19 Inserting a chart is as simple as the Insert tab and
• 00:23 the Chart button is available on the Illustrations group.
• 00:27 Or within this particular content placeholder,
• 00:30 I click the Insert Chart icon and there is our Insert Chart dialog box.
• 00:36 Now we've got various chart types along here, chart variants,
• 00:40 as well as a preview of the particular chart that's selected.
• 00:44 So let's have a look at the chart types.
• 00:46 A Column chart is very good when there is a relationship between the categories.
• 00:52 A Line chart is very good when there is a time series that is continuous,
• 00:56 such as temperature or even stock market fluctuations.
• 01:01 A Pie chart is where the data in the series adds up to 100%, so
• 01:05 it's the comparison that's important and not so much the individual series.
• 01:09 In a Bar chart, and this is quite often confused with Column charts,
• 01:12 it's where there is no direct relationship between the categories.
• 01:16 An Area chart is where the sum of the plotted values are important to compare.
• 01:22 And an XY (Scatter) chart is something that we use frequently in science.
• 01:25 And it's where there is data on both axes such as,
• 01:29 say, humidity compared to temperature.
• 01:31 Now there's also a bunch of new chart types and
• 01:34 they're beyond the scope of this course.
• 01:37 But notice the things like Treemaps, Sunburst, Histograms,
• 01:42 and the Histogram options, Pareto, Box and Whisker, Waterfall and so on.
• 01:49 So let's go to a Column type chart, and the variants are such as
• 01:53 a Clustered Column where the columns are side by side in a cluster or
• 01:56 a stacked column,
• 01:58 where the data in the series is actually added together within each category.
• 02:02 So let's go for our Clustered Column.
• 02:05 I click OK and Microsoft Excel loads that in the background.
• 02:08 That chart is now placed within that content placeholder.
• 02:12 And we have an Excel data sheet, even though it's a little bit simplified,
• 02:15 to work with our data.
• 02:16 Now it's very important that this is dummy data, so
• 02:19 you need to edit it so let's do some of that now.
• 02:22 So I type in Brisbane, Canberra,
• 02:25 and we can enter the data directly in the data sheet very much like an Excel or
• 02:30 because it's Excel, you can click in there and fix up spelling mistakes.
• 02:34 And we go humidity with a full stop because that is an abbreviated one.
• 02:40 Temp, full stop.
• 02:41 And something like solar radiation.
• 02:43 And so we start editing the data here.
• 02:46 We can also edit in the full Excel application if we wish.
• 02:50 We can edit formulas in here and do all kinds of things.
• 02:53 Now, notice these colored bounding boxes.
• 02:55 These allow us to grab the handle and drag with the mouse so
• 02:59 that we can delete a category.
• 03:01 And notice that the chart updates while I do that, or I can drag across and
• 03:05 delete the series as well.
• 03:07 So I'm going to drag that very carefully with the mouse, and
• 03:09 that will be the data in our data sheet.
• 03:11 Notice that we can switch the row and columns, or Select Data, Edit the Data,
• 03:17 and if I close that down, then the Switch Row/ Column becomes unavailable,
• 03:23 because the data sheet is not available.
• 03:25 So, with this chart selected, we can either right-click, and go Edit Data,
• 03:30 either within the data sheet, or in within Excel itself, or simply click the button.
• 03:36 Notice also that in terms of editing, we can Insert or Delete.
• 03:40 I'll click Escape on the keyboard and that removes rows and
• 03:43 columns and indeed, add them.
• 03:47 So that's very good.
• 03:48 Let's have a look at some of the simple formatting and design options.
• 03:52 So with the Design tab enabled and the chart selected, we
• 03:56 can add various chart elements, and that's really the subject of another video.
• 04:01 These quick layouts are pre-stylized layouts and
• 04:04 we can see how the chart updates as we move our mouse over the thumbnails.
• 04:09 We can change the colors for the series and the categories.
• 04:12 And we can also have these chart styles, which are both chart elements as well as
• 04:16 a little bit of formatting all in the one package, and that works out very well.
• 04:21 So we go to the Format tab, and the Format tab's not so
• 04:25 much about the chart elements but actually formatting the various objects.
• 04:30 So for example,
• 04:31 I could select that series of change the Shape Filter to something else.
• 04:35 And it's very important that as you do that,
• 04:37 the chart elements actually match visually.
• 04:39 But also click again, and I can select an individual series and
• 04:42 highlight that by changing the fill color of that as well.
• 04:46 It's very important if you do that, though you would need to explain why you've done
• 04:50 it as a slide show or in some sort of reference on the slide, so
• 04:53 that people know exactly why you've done it.
• 04:56 Now let's look very briefly at a special type of chart that we haven't covered, and
• 05:00 that's actually a three dimensional chart.
• 05:02 If I right click on this and go Edit Data,
• 05:04 we can see that the data is exactly the same as it was in a two dimensional chart.
• 05:09 Now a three dimensional chart has X data, Y data and Z data gives it depth.
• 05:16 But there is no Z data in there, and so that's an inappropriate chart for
• 05:20 the type of data that we've got.
• 05:23 And it's not suitable to use three dimensional charts just for
• 05:26 perspective and
• 05:28 some sort of visual element representation if the data doesn't support that.
• 05:33 It can also be very difficult to read
• 05:36 the data visually from three dimensional charts because of perspective.
• 05:41 So inserting charts is very simple either on the Insert tab and the Chart button or
• 05:45 within a particular content placeholder.
• 05:47 With the chart selected,
• 05:48 you could work on the design in terms of working with the data, the quick layouts,
• 05:54 the colors, the various chart styles, as well as formatting them.
• 05:58 It's very important that you get to learn and
• 06:01 practice with the various chart types so that the chart is appropriate.
• 06:05 And please only use three dimensional charts if your data in fact supports that.

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