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A chart is constructed from data of some kind, and the first step in creating a PowerPoint chart is to enter the data so that Microsoft Graph knows how wide or tall or thick to make the pie slices or bars or columns. With that done, you can tend to the chart's appearance.
 | Don't pack too much information into a chart. It's hard for an audience to make sense of a crowded chart with too many bars, pie charts, or columns. And, as nice as three-dimensional charts are on paper, they can turn a simple chart into a maze when they're shown on the big screen. |
Entering the raw data
Following are methods for starting the Microsoft Graph program and entering the data for the chart.
To construct a chart, click the Insert Chart placeholder icon if one is on the slide you're working with; otherwise, click the Insert Chart button or choose Insert --> Chart. The Microsoft Graph program opens. Notice the new buttons on the Standard and Formatting toolbars. The Datasheet is for entering the data on which the chart is based. Click the View Datasheet button if you don't see the Datasheet.
 | Enter the data you want to plot in the chart in the Datasheet. For now, don't worry about whether data appears in the right place on the chart. Observe the following technicalities as you enter the data; then, click outside the Datasheet and graph when you're done: |
- Entering the numbers: Click in a cell — the place where a column and row intersect — and enter data or descriptive labels.
- Formatting numbers: Select numbers in the datasheet and click a Style button on the Formatting toolbar (Currency Style, Percent Style, or Comma Style) to change number formats. To increase or decrease the number of decimal places in a number, click the Increase Decimal or Decrease Decimal button.
- Changing the width of columns: If a row isn't wide enough to show data, you see scientific notation instead of numbers. To make a column wider, move to the top row of the datasheet, place the cursor on the divider line between letters, and click and drag toward the right when you see the two-headed arrow.
- Deleting data, columns, and rows: Drag across data and then press the Delete key to delete data. To delete an entire row or column, right-click its number or letter in the datasheet and choose Delete.
- Inserting a column or row: Right-click a column letter and choose Insert to insert a new column to the left of the column you right-clicked. Right-click a row number and choose Insert to insert a new row. The row appears above the row whose number you clicked.
- Enlarging the datasheet: Move the pointer to the lower-right corner of the datasheet and start dragging when you see the double-headed arrow.
- Excluding data from the chart: Select the column(s) or row(s) you want to exclude by dragging over their letters or numbers; then, choose Data --> Exclude Row/Col. To re-include a row or column that you excluded, select it and choose Data --> Include Row/Col.
When you want to edit a chart, double-click it. The Datasheet appears so that you can fool with the numbers and other data. A chart is an embedded object. Therefore, you can move it to a new position on-screen or drag one of its selection handles to change its size.
Tending to the chart's appearance
Getting it right the first time isn't easy when you're dealing with charts. Fortunately, Microsoft Graph offers about a hundred different ways to tinker with a chart's appearance and change the way that charts are laid out.
| To tinker with a chart, double-click it to open Microsoft Graph and then either click buttons on the Standard toolbar or choose Chart --> Chart Options to open the Chart Options dialog box. As you experiment with the different settings in the dialog box, watch the chart — the dialog box shows your chart and how it is affected by the settings you choose. |
Click the View Datasheet button to remove the datasheet from the screen and be able to see the chart better. Click the button again if you need to see the datasheet and edit the data from which the chart is plotted.
Getting a chart from an Excel worksheet
To get a chart from Excel, select it in Excel, choose Edit --> Copy (or press Ctrl+C), select a slide in PowerPoint, and choose Edit --> Paste (or press Ctrl+V). A chart arrives as what Office calls an embedded object, a pictorial representation of data. An embedded object is only a picture; it has no relationship to the data from which it was created. You can move an embedded object around by dragging, or change its shape by dragging a selection handle.
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