PowerPoint 2013 Bible, 4th Edition

Chapter 12

Working with Charts

In This Chapter

Understanding the parts of a chart

Starting a new chart

Working with chart data

Chart types and chart layout presets

Working with labels

Controlling the axes

Formatting a chart

Rotating a 3-D chart

Working with chart templates

Many times when you include a chart in PowerPoint, it already exists in some other application. For example, you might have an Excel workbook that contains some charts that you want to use in PowerPoint. If this is the case, you can simply copy and paste them into PowerPoint or link or embed them, as you will learn in Chapter 13, “Incorporating Content from Other Programs.”

However, when you need to create a quick chart that has no external source, PowerPoint's charting tool is perfect for this purpose. The PowerPoint charting interface is based upon the one in Excel, and so you don't have to leave PowerPoint to create, modify, and format professional-looking charts.

Note

What's the difference between a chart and a graph? Some purists will tell you that a chart is either a table or a pie chart, whereas a graph is a chart that plots data points on two axes, such as a bar chart. However, Microsoft does not make this distinction, and neither do I in this book. I use the term chart in this book for either kind.

Understanding the Parts of a Chart

PowerPoint's charting feature is based upon the same Escher 2.0 graphics engine that is used for drawn objects. Consequently, most of what you have learned about formatting ...