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Creating a Chart in Microsoft Graph
Microsoft Graph is fully integrated with PowerPoint, much like an embedded application, such that when you activate it, PowerPoint's regular menus and toolbars are replaced by Microsoft Graph's, but you remain in the PowerPoint application window. To return to normal PowerPoint menus and tools, simply click outside of the Microsoft Graph object's frame. To start a new chart, display the slide on which you want to place it and then click the Insert Chart button on the Standard toolbar, or choose Insert ⇨Chart. A new chart object appears on the slide, along with a floating datasheet window (see Figure 11-1).Figure 11-1: Microsoft Graph has a floating datasheet window and different toolbars and menus.
Then edit the labels and values in the datasheet window to make the chart show the numbers and text you need. You can resize the datasheet window as needed to see more or less of it, and drag it around anywhere on the screen by its title bar.
| Caution | When you first start Microsoft Graph, it may move the Formatting toolbar up to the same line as the Standard one, even if you have set them to be on separate lines in PowerPoint. This is not the optimal arrangement because you can't see all the buttons. To move the Formatting toolbar back below the Standard one, just drag it down there, or click the down arrow at the right end of a toolbar and choose Show Buttons on Two Rows. |
You can also start a new chart using a layout placeholder; Chart is one of the six on the multi-purpose layouts, and there is also a Title and Chart layout near the bottom of the list of layouts in the task pane.
Identifying Chart Elements
The sample chart shown in Figure 11-2 contains these elements:
Data series: Each different bar color represents a different series: East, West, and North.
Legend: Colored squares in the Legend box describe the correspondence of each color to a data series.
Categories: The quarters listed along the bottom of the chart are the categories.
Category axis: The horizontal line running across the bottom of the chart is the category axis, also called the X axis.
Value axis: The vertical line running up the left side of the chart, with the numbers on it, is the value axis, also called the Y or Z axis.
Data points: Each individual bar is a data point. The numeric value for that data point corresponds to the height of the bar, measured against the value axis.
Figure 11-2: A typical chart.
| Note | If you have taken geometry, you are probably used to calling the horizontal axis of the chart X and the vertical axis Y. However, on some 3-D charts, the vertical axis is called Z in some dialog boxes, and the axis that runs back-to-front is called Y. In most charts there is nothing plotted on the back-to-front axis, so you only deal with the vertical and horizontal axes (X and Z). Don't let the fact that the vertical one is called Z confuse you; it's really just your old familiar Y axis. |
The data for the chart can come from anywhere-a PowerPoint or Word table, an Excel spreadsheet, or any other data source where there are delimited rows and columns. The data must be numeric, of course, except for a header row at the top and/or set of data labels in the leftmost column.
Basing a Chart on an Excel Worksheet
At first, it might seem counterintuitive to bring data from Excel into Microsoft Graph. After all, Excel's charting tools are superior to those of Microsoft Graph, so it would make more sense to make the chart in Excel and then copy the chart into PowerPoint. However, anytime you embed content from another program, you increase the file size, so using Microsoft Graph will keep the PowerPoint file size smaller.
To import data from Excel, do the following:
Insert a new Microsoft Graph chart, or display an existing chart. Doubleclick to make sure that Microsoft Graph is active.
On the Standard toolbar click the Import File button. The Import File dialog box appears.
Select the file containing the data for the chart. It can be an Excel workbook or some other format where data is delimited. Then, click Open.
If you chose an Excel file that has more than one sheet, an Import Data Options dialog box appears prompting you to choose which sheet to use. You can also specify a certain range within that sheet (see Figure 11-3).
Make your selection and click OK. The data is imported into the datasheet for Microsoft Graph.
Figure 11-3: Select a worksheet to import data from, and optionally a range from it.
Basing a Chart on a PowerPoint Table
There isn't a really graceful way to convert a PowerPoint table to a chart; it's more of a manual cut-and-paste affair. Here's how:
In the table, select the cells that contain the data, plus any adjacent rows or columns that contain labels.
Start a new chart or double-click an existing one, displaying the data table.
Click in the datasheet in the cell where you want to begin pasting and press Ctrl+V or click the Paste button on the toolbar, or choose Edit⇨Paste.
| Note | If the copied table contained labels in the first row and the first column, you would want to paste into the top left cell in the datasheet (the unnumbered, unlettered one); otherwise, you would want to start pasting in A1 (which in the datasheet is actually the second row and second column because of the blank ones). |
