Try the techniques here:

http://peltiertech.com/Excel/Charts/AddLine.html

Line being target
2+ value points equal my bars

I am trying to get the target line to go from the left Y axis to the far right side of graph.

Current results are that the line goes from mid-point to mid-point of the X axis points.

Current fix is to draw a line from one end to the other. (I don’t want to draw a line).

Please help

In this post I was looking at a more continuous independent variable, specifically monthly sales target vs. month of the year. I used a lighter fill for the target, and a darker line for actual values, intending the actual values would thus have greater emphasis.

Those “poor man’s” animations are certainly possible. I do know that I’ve seen examples in which Excel charts or perhaps MS Graph charts are ungrouped by PowerPoint in order that certain chart elements can be displayed in a prescribed sequence. I should figure out how and post it some day.

Of course, even without animation settings, you can do this simply by having near-identical looking slides in sequence. Animation probably just makes developing a slide easier, not having to copy each ad hoc change in ,e.g., title font across the whole sequence.

I do know that PowerPoint has some capability to animate charts, by allowing you to select different timings for thee appearance of series in the chart. I did a quick Google search on the keywords “powerpoint animate chart” and several promising links came up.

While reading your valuable insight into the target-value graphing, I wish to know what is the best way to “animate” these graphs? How do I show this graph in the presentation (powerpoint) so that first I show the values and then plot the target, to reinforce my point and to focus on the discussions. Am I forced to use two different charts or is there a better way?

Thanks

Jay

Translating that to financial forcasting approach by month over a full year, I organized my graph to provide:
1 – a moving monthly target for each month of the year
2 – a monthly bar represents actuals in past months of the year, but in future months from now to the end of the year, a stacked bar represents the actuals expected from backlog (orders in house) plus revenue from forecasted orders.

This approach provides a one-glance forecast of performance against plan to the end of the fiscal year.

(Let me know how I could upload an example to you. I’d even be willing to be the subject (victim?) of an Improve This Graph exercise.)

Alex provided me with the following charts, which I have just now gotten around to adding.