Locked lesson.
About this lesson
Select the right chart for your data, add it to a slide, know the basics of editing charts and quickly format charts.
Lesson versions
Multiple versions of this lesson are available, choose the appropriate version for you:
Exercise files
Download the ‘before’ and ‘after’ PowerPoint presentations from the video tutorial and try the lesson yourself.
Adding and Editing Charts.pptx119.3 KB Adding and Editing Charts - Completed.pptx
130.1 KB
Quick reference
Topic
Working with charts in PowerPoint.
When to use
To explain complex topics using data-rich charts.
Instructions
To insert charts on our slide
- On the Insert tab, in the Illustrations group, click Chart.
- Click the Insert Chart icon within a placeholder.
Chart types
- – when there is a relationship between the categories.
- – good for time-series that are continuous, e.g. temperature or stock market fluctuations.
- : add up to 100% – comparison is important, not so much the numbers themselves. You can only use these when you have a single series or category of data.
- – when there is no direct relationship between the categories.
- – where the sum of plotted values is important to compare.
- X Y (Scatter) – values on 2 axes, e.g. humidity at a set temperature.
- New chart types in PowerPoint 2016 are Treemap, Sunburst, Histogram (with Histogram Options, Pareto), Box and Whisker, and Waterfall.
Working with the data sheet
- Enter data directly or paste in.
- Press the Tab key or Enter key to move the active cell.
- Can manually add formulae.
- New row: right-click header, Insert – becomes a new category.
- New column: right-click the header – becomes a new series.
- Or drag the boundary handles.
- Switch row / column becomes unavailable – datasheet is closed down.
Formatting
- Quick Layouts and Chart Styles quickly format a chart with a predetermined style.
- Various chart elements can be formatted such as an entire series or an individual element within a series from options on the Format tab on the ribbon.
Also note:
Three-dimensional charts are only appropriate when you have three data variables (X, Y, Z) to display.
Login to download- 00:03 This is one of two videos where we look at inserting and
- 00:06 working with charts in PowerPoint.
- 00:07 Specifically inserting the chart, the chart types, and
- 00:10 working with some data and a little bit of formatting.
- 00:13 So let's begin by going to slide two.
- 00:15 Inserting a chart is as simple as the insert tab, and
- 00:19 the chart button is available on the illustrations group, or
- 00:21 within this particular content placeholder.
- 00:24 I click the insert chat icon and there is our insert chart dialog box.
- 00:29 Now we've got various chart types along here.
- 00:31 Chart variants as well as a preview of a particular chart that selected.
- 00:36 So let's have a look at the chart types.
- 00:38 A column chart is very good when there is a relationship between the categories.
- 00:43 For a line chart, it is very good when there is a time series that is continuous,
- 00:47 such as temperature or even stock market fluctuations.
- 00:51 A pie chart is where the data in a series adds up to 100% so
- 00:55 it's a comparison that's important, not so much the individual series.
- 01:00 In a bar chart this is quite often confused with a column chart, and
- 01:03 it's where there is no direct relationship between the categories.
- 01:07 An area chart is where the sum of the plotted values are important to compare.
- 01:11 And an XY scatter chart is something that we use frequently in science,and
- 01:15 it's where there's a starter on both axes, such as humidity compared to temperature.
- 01:20 And with PowerPoint 2016, there are six new chart types, the scope of which is
- 01:24 beyond this course, but they are a tree map, sunburst, histogram,
- 01:30 with histogram options of box and whisker and waterfall.
- 01:37 And you're welcome to explore those at your leisure.
- 01:39 So let's go to a column type and the variants are such as a clustered column,
- 01:44 where the columns are side by side in the cluster.
- 01:47 Or a stacked columned,
- 01:48 where the data in the series is actually added together within each category.
- 01:53 So, let's go for a Clustered Column.
- 01:55 I click OK and Microsoft Excel loads to the background.
- 01:58 That chart is now placed within their content place holder.
- 02:02 And we have an Excel data sheet.
- 02:03 Even though it's a little bit simplified to work with that data.
- 02:07 It's very important that this is dummy data.
- 02:09 So, you need to edit it.
- 02:10 So, let's do some editing.
- 02:13 Brisbon, Canberra.
- 02:16 And we enter the data directly in the data sheet.
- 02:19 Very much like in Excel, or because it is Excel you can click in there and
- 02:24 fix up spelling mistakes.
- 02:26 Then we can go humidity with a full stop because it's an abbreviated one.
- 02:31 Temp and something like solar radiation and so we start editing the data here.
- 02:37 We can also edit in the full Excel application if we wish.
- 02:41 We can edit formulas in here and do all kinds of things.
- 02:45 Now notice these colored bounding boxes these allow us to grab the handle and
- 02:49 drag with a mouse.
- 02:51 So that we can delete a category.
- 02:53 Notice that the chart updates while I do that.
- 02:56 Or I can drag across and delete a series as well.
- 02:59 So I'm going to grab that very carefully with the mouse and
- 03:02 that will be the data in our new data sheet.
- 03:05 Notice that we can switch the row and column or select data.
- 03:10 And if the data, if I close that down, then the switch row column becomes
- 03:15 unavailable because the data sheet is not available.
- 03:18 So with this chart selected we can either right click and go Edit Data,
- 03:23 either within the data sheet or within Excel itself or simply click the button.
- 03:29 Notice also that in terms of editing, we can insert or delete.
- 03:33 I'll click escape on the keyboard, and remove rows or columns or indeed add them.
- 03:39 That's very good.
- 03:40 Let's have a look at some very simple formatting and design.
- 03:44 So with the design tab enabled and the chart selected,
- 03:47 we can add various chart elements.
- 03:49 And that's really the subject of another video.
- 03:52 These quick layouts are pre-stylized layouts and
- 03:55 we can see how the chart updates as we move our mouse over the thumbnails.
- 04:00 We can change the colors for the series and the categories and
- 04:03 we can also have these chart styles which are both chart elements as well as
- 04:07 a little bit of formatting all in the one package and that works out very well.
- 04:11 So we go to the Format tab.
- 04:13 And the Format tab is not so much about the chart elements, but
- 04:15 actually about formatting various subjects.
- 04:18 So for example, I could select that series, and
- 04:22 change the Shape Fill to something else.
- 04:25 And it's very important that, as you do that,
- 04:26 the chart elements actually match visually.
- 04:29 But also click again and I can select an individual series, and
- 04:32 highlight that by changing the fill color of that as well.
- 04:36 And it's very important that if you do that, you would need to explain
- 04:39 why you've done that in a slide show, or in some sort of reference on the slide so
- 04:43 that people know exactly why you've done that.
- 04:46 Let's look very briefly, at a special type of chart that we haven't covered, and
- 04:50 that is actually a three dimensional chart.
- 04:53 If I right click on this go edit data,
- 04:54 we can see that the data is exactly the same as it was in a two dimensional chart.
- 05:00 Now, a three dimensional chart has x data, y data, and
- 05:04 z data, and the z data gives it depth.
- 05:07 But there's no z data in this, and so this is an inappropriate chart for the type of
- 05:12 data that we've got, and it's not suitable to use three dimensional charts just to do
- 05:17 some perspective or some sort of visual element if the data does not support that.
- 05:21 So inserting charts is very simple, either on the Insert tab and the Chart button, or
- 05:25 within a placeholder.
- 05:27 With the chart selected,
- 05:27 you can work on the design in terms of working with the data.
- 05:31 The quick layouts, the colors, the various chart styles, as well as formating them.
- 05:35 It's very important that you get to learn and practice with various chart types so
- 05:39 that the chart is appropriate.
- 05:40 And please use three-dimensional charts only if your data in fact supports that.
- 05:46 And, of course, Powerpoint 2016 has six new styles of chart and
- 05:50 they're well worth exploring.
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