Special Edition Using Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2003

PowerPoint charts can be as simple or as complex as you like. You can create a basic chart right inside PowerPoint using Microsoft Graph, or you can create a full-featured chart using Microsoft Excel and insert it into your presentation. You can choose from common chart types such as column, bar, line, and pie charts; try something out of the ordinary such as a doughnut or radar chart; or create a chart type of your own. PowerPoint charts are preformatted based on the attached design template, but you can also change nearly every aspect of a chart ”its color , text, labels, and more.

A chart, also referred to as a graph , can be a useful tool for communicating numeric information in a concise format. You could create a chart illustrating sales revenue per region or the percentage of sales allocated to each of your products, for example. As you begin to work with charts, you'll discover a multitude of uses for them.