How to Create a Powerpoint Chart

By eHow Computers Editor

Rate: (0 Ratings)

The whole point of creating a PowerPoint presentation is to make an impact and get important information across quickly. One of the best ways to do this is to insert a chart into your presentation. This way, your viewers can use pictures to gauge profits and losses, overhead costs, trends and other important facts and figures. Creating a PowerPoint chart is simple once you know how to use the toolbar to upload graphs.

Flag Article

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Insert Your Chart

Step1

Select "Chart" under the "Insert" tab on your PowerPoint toolbar.

Step2

Cut and paste your pre-existing chart into the designated space by clicking on the "Edit" tab and choosing "Paste."

Step3

Enter values into the spreadsheet that pops up when you tell the software that you want to insert a chart. This creates a bar graph for you.

Beef Up the Presentation

Step1

Animate a chart by selecting "Normal View" and going to the slide you want to animate. Click on the slide to select it, and then click "Custom Animation" under the "Slide Show" tab. Choose "Add Effect" under "Custom Animation," and select from the controls that allow you to spin the slide, grow and shrink the slide title and direct a number of other fancy tricks.

Step2

Customize your slide's background color by going to the "Slide Design" tab and choosing "Color Schemes" to add more power to your presentation's visual impact.

Step3

Create an even sleeker presentation by going to the "Insert" tab to insert diagrams, text boxes and even movies and sounds. Once you create your slides, you can always use them in future presentations. You can even print discreet slides or the entire presentation to use in lecture handouts and training materials.

Tips & Warnings

You can create a presentation or a project at the last minute when needed. PowerPoint templates make it easy to enter your data into a pre-existing format. When you have downtime, however, explore the tabs and drop-down menus on the PowerPoint toolbar to find fun effects that can really give future presentations pizazz.
Avoid putting too much text on the screen when you are inserting a chart. The chart should speak for itself, with only a title or a few bullet points to augment it. A too-busy PowerPoint slide will distract viewers, and you won't be able to make your point.