Chart Types and Chart Layout Presets

The default chart is a column chart. However, there are a lot of alternative chart types to choose from. Not all of them will be appropriate for your data, of course, but you may be surprised at the different spin on the message that a different chart type presents.

Caution 

Many chart types come in both 2-D and 3-D models, and you can choose which chart type looks most appropriate for your presentation. However, try to be consistent. For example, it looks nicer to stay with all 2-D or all 3-D charts rather than mixing the types in a presentation.

You can revisit your choice of chart type at any time by following these steps:

1. Select the chart, if needed, so that the Chart Tools Design tab becomes available.

2. On the Design tab, click Change Chart Type.

3. Select the desired type, just as you did when you originally created the chart. Figure 14.4 shows the chart types.

4. Click OK.

This is the basic procedure for the overall chart type selection, but there are also many options for fine-tuning the layout. The following sections explain these options.

EXPERT TIP 

To change the default chart type, after selecting a chart from the Change Chart Type dialog box, click the Set as Default Chart button.

PowerPoint provides a limited number of preset chart layouts for each chart type. You can choose these presets from the Chart Layouts group in the Chart Tools Design tab. They are good starting points for creating your own layouts, which you will learn about in this chapter.

To choose a layout, click the down arrow in the Chart Layouts group and select one from the gallery, as shown in Figure 14.12. Although you cannot add your own layouts to these presets, you can create chart templates, which are basically the same thing with additional formatting settings. This chapter also covers chart template creation.

Figure 14.12: You can choose one of the preset layouts that fits your needs.