PowerPoint column chart template

Long lists or tables showing endless sets of numbers can cause the reader to lose interest somewhat sooner than the author or presenter would probably wish. But representing those same numbers pictorially as a chart will liven up any presentation, making it far more interesting while giving it a professional appearance.

Fortunately, creating charts and graphs in Microsoft PowerPoint is really easy. Just choose your chart from one of the ready made templates, and a few clicks later, your chart is ready.



The chart functions in Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 make it very easy for you to create a variety of charts with just a few clicks of the mouse.

Step 1: 
Opening your blank page: 

Open up a new blank slide. Click onto the ‘Insert’ tab where you will see the chart icon.

Step 2: 
Choosing your chart.

Click on the chart icon and a new window will open, showing you the different types of charts available. Scroll down the list and select your chart.

Step 3: 
Open the default chart. 

Then either double click on your chosen chart, or click once on the chart and press the OK button at the bottom of the window. PowerPoint will create a default chart for you and open up an Excel spreadsheet. This spreadsheet will contain the data for your graph.

Step 4: 
Build your chart. 

The spreadsheet is populated with the default data for the chart and is outlined with a blue line and the words ‘To resize chart data range, drag lower right corner of range’ typed underneath. You can now replace the default data with your own data while watching your chart build. The blue line will move to accommodate your data if you type into new rows or columns.

Alternatively you can click on the corner of the blue line and drag it to cover the area of spreadsheet that will contain your data. When you’ve entered all the data, either close, save or print the spreadsheet by clicking on the Windows icon at the top left of the spreadsheet.

Step 5: 
Formatting your chart.

Depending on which chart you selected, it will be created with default information including the legend. You can now go ahead and continue with your own formatting preferences.

Step 6. 
Editing your chart. 

When you want to edit the data for your chart, click once on the chart and either right click and select ‘Edit Data’ or go to the top of the page and look for the ‘Design’ tab under the highlighted ‘Chart Tools’ section. Now select ‘Edit Data’ from the ‘Data’ group on the tool bar. Your spreadsheet will open for you to edit.

What You Will Need 

MS PowerPoint 2007
A set of data for plotting

Tips and Warnings 

• PowerPoint 2007 provides a few templates with the chart option on the slide. Just choose one of the templates showing the six icons in the center of the page. One of these is the chart icon which you can click on to create your chart. 

• When deleting data from the spreadsheet, the blue line won’t adjust to fit the new data. You need to click on the corner and drag it to fit your data. The chart will now resize. 

• When closing your Excel sheet, you don’t have to save it separately as it will automatically do so when you save and close PowerPoint. 

• Don’t forget to save PowerPoint regularly so you don’t lose your work.