Customizing Chart Appearance

You can format charts to customize the appearance and to clarify the data presented.

Chart Sizes

When you insert a chart, the default dimensions are 613 wide and 380 pixels tall, regardless of the size or orientation of your page. You can modify the size of the chart using the Width and Height boxes in the Chart Properties panel.

Chart Placement

You can also modify the placement of your chart as needed. If a chart is smaller than the default size, the chart placement can be adjusted. Select the chart and use the left, center and right alignment icons in the toolbar.

You can also click and drag the chart. As you move a small chart on your slide, guidelines will appear to  aid alignment and placement. Use the arrow keys to fine tune the placement of the chart.

Spacing for Charts

The spacing feature allows you to determine the amount of space between the chart content and the perimeter of the chart. Click on the Set Spacing Options button in the Chart Properties panel.

In the Set Spacing Options dialog box, you can adjust the spacing between the chart itself and the perimeter of the chart for the left, right, top and bottom. If you’d like to keep all sides equal, check the Make all sides equal box. Then adjust any of the options and the others will change to match the selected number of pixels.

• Setting the spacing pixels to a lower number creates less white space between your chart and its perimeter.

• Setting the spacing pixels to a higher number creates more white space between the chart and its perimeter.

  

Chart Borders

You can set a border for the outer edge of your chart using the line color tool. If you click on the inner area of your chart, you can also set that line color independently.

Borders can also be created for a single column or slice or for a portion of a stacked column or stacked bar chart:

1

Select the column, slice or portion of a stacked column or bar in the chart.

2

Use the slider to turn on the Border feature.

3

Enter a number for the border width in pixels.

4

Use the brush icon to choose a color.

Background Colors for Charts

There are two different areas where you can add a background color in charts. To set the background color for the entire chart, click on one of the edges of the chart. Then set the color using the background color tool in the Edit toolbar.

To set a background color for the inner area of your chart, use the Plot Area Fill option in the Chart Properties panel. You can choose Solid in the drop-down menu and select a desired color. To work with gradient fills, see additional information below.

Gradient Fills for Charts

You can add gradient background fills to a number of chart types. To create a gradient, use the Plot Area Fill drop down and choose 2-Color Gradient or 3-Color Gradient. Then choose the colors for the gradient. Use the arrows in the drop-down from the icon to the right to set a direction for the gradient.