Advanced Chart Options

Quick reference

• 00:04 In this video, we're going to start adding some chart elements,
• 00:08 editing particular chart elements, and looking for potential problems.
• 00:12 So we're going to start with a chart on our slide in PowerPoint.
• 00:15 And there's another video that covers inserting charts on the slides.
• 00:20 I select this particular chart and
• 00:21 notice immediately there is a chart title there already.
• 00:25 And I'm given these three little flyout icons.
• 00:28 The little plus sign icon allows me to add or
• 00:31 remove particular chart elements from the chart.
• 00:34 A style and color icon, and what I term a filter icon to add or
• 00:38 remove series and categories.
• 00:42 For the chart elements icon, it's the same as if I went to the design
• 00:45 tab on the ribbon, and used the add chart elements button here.
• 00:50 So, I click on this icon, and
• 00:52 add labels to the primary horizontal and primary vertical axis.
• 00:57 And these display on the chart immediately.
• 01:01 I get values for the vertical axis and the category names with the horizontal axis.
• 01:05 I'll also add axis titles and we will rename them shortly.
• 01:10 I don't need data labels or data table or error bars.
• 01:14 But it's really handy to have them automatically display as I move my mouse
• 01:18 over them.
• 01:20 Now error bars are really more about advanced statistics.
• 01:24 I also need a legend.
• 01:26 It's good practice to let users know what your chart is telling them with as much
• 01:29 detail as you can add.
• 01:31 Without of course making a to cluttered.
• 01:33 So your chart should explain themselves as if you weren't there to actually explain
• 01:37 them to somebody.
• 01:39 I'm happy with those additions to the chart elements now editing the elements on
• 01:43 the chart is the simplest clicking within the element.
• 01:46 Such as this chart title and I can drag my mouse over the text and
• 01:50 type in City weather.
• 01:52 I can click within the vertical access title and type in temp.
• 01:56 With a full stop, because it's abbreviated, and
• 01:59 the horizontal access I type city.
• 02:02 If we go to the next slide, notice that we have what looks like two similar charts
• 02:07 with similar data, but they're a bit different.
• 02:09 So let's do some fixing.
• 02:10 First of all, let's make them look the same.
• 02:13 If I select chart one on the left,
• 02:16 the chart styles group shows me that styles seven is selected.
• 02:20 And the other chart shows that style one is selected, so
• 02:25 I apply style one to both charts.
• 02:29 Now, we'll also notice the colors of the columns don't match.
• 02:31 This might be because some of the chart elements.
• 02:34 Were changed some time previously after this style was applied.
• 02:39 So with that chart selected, I click the change colors menu button and
• 02:43 I can see that the first color ramp entry is selected for that chart.
• 02:47 When I select the first chart the change colors menu button, and
• 02:51 the second color ramp is selected so I click the first one.
• 02:55 Which matches the one that was used in other chart, now they match.
• 03:00 Now, to fix the scales,
• 03:03 now charts with similar item must be compared with similar scales.
• 03:07 It must be crazy to see charts scales out of wack or
• 03:08 changing as the presentation advances.
• 03:11 So I found a chart with a greatest scale on the left which is 40.
• 03:16 And double click and we can see that the maximum here is 25 type in 40.
• 03:22 And either enter or tab and close that down now that we
• 03:26 can see that the scales is exactly match, that's much better.
• 03:30 Now while we're here let's have a look at a few things, well double click again.
• 03:34 And notice the Axis Options drop-down arrow.
• 03:38 So we could select the chart area, the chart title, or various items.
• 03:42 We have the fill and line, shadow, glow, soft edges, and so forth.
• 03:49 I tend to leave those alone.
• 03:51 Size and properties, such as the text alignment, the text direction, and
• 03:54 custom angles.
• 03:56 As well as the area where we will before to look at the actual data numbers.
• 04:01 So we have the balance of the axis which is from 0 to 40.
• 04:06 We have the major units or
• 04:08 the minor units which govern the interval between these grid lines.
• 04:12 We have the horizontal axis crosses at, we have tick marks
• 04:17 where we can place tick marks either outside or inside.
• 04:22 And sometimes it's easier not just to have them as well as the labels are numbers.
• 04:27 And you can explore these as you explore charts in PowerPoint.
• 04:30 So let's close that down.
• 04:31 While we're here, we can apply a legend, and notice on this little flyer,
• 04:38 we can apply the legend to the right, to the top, to the left or to the bottom.
• 04:44 I tend to place it at the right because that's where people are used to seeing it.
• 04:47 So I will do the same year legend, click to the right and
• 04:52 now our charts are quite comparable.
• 04:55 So in summary, there's so much to charting.
• 04:57 It's often easier to use a particular chart style.
• 05:00 To quickly format the chart let the power of both Excel and
• 05:02 PowerPoint do the work for you.
• 05:04 But you can also access these various icons on the chart, and
• 05:08 they allow you to access further options including the ribbon as well.
• 05:13 Remember the task pane works on the context of what you've selected,
• 05:17 particularly if you double click.
• 05:19 Or you can right click on any item and select the appropriate menu item.
• 05:23 So good luck with charts, they are powerful when constructive and
• 05:26 displayed well.

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