Improve your bar charts

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Improve your bar charts

Charts are a great way to visually present complex data in Microsoft PowerPoint. However, the default chart looks terrible. One little-known adjustment goes a long way in making the default chart look better: making the bars wider. To do this, double-click on the chart to edit it. Click a series of bars once to select the series. Right-click and choose Format >> Data Series. On the Options tab of the Format Data Series dialog box, reduce the gap width. Click OK when you're done. Although it's not obvious, reducing the gaps between the bars widens the bars because a smaller gap means more room for bars. Wider bars will make your chart look more bold and clear.

(Tip provided by Presentations columnist, Ellen Finkelstein)

Blogged on 5:40 AM

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