How do you make a copy of a chart on the same worksheet, and have it link to a new range of data? This is somewhat complicated, too. But here is a simple way to accomplish the task.

The Problem

You have a nice chart, and you want to copy the chart and use it to display other data.

You copy the range that includes the data and the chart(A1:H10), and paste it into another range (A12:H21).

You change the pasted data (A12:C19) but the pasted chart doesn’t update. When you examine the source data of the new chart, you see that it refers to the data used in the old chart.

The Solution

The easiest way to make this work, especially if you need to make many copies of this chart, is to follow this protocol:

1. In a new workbook, arrange some typical data in the appropriate layout and make your chart. Save this workbook. This will be your Chart Template Workbook.
2. Select the range containing the data and underlying the chart on the Chart Template Workbook, and use Cut (not Copy) to place it on the clipboard.
3. Select a cell on the target worksheet, and paste.
4. Close the Chart Template Workbook without saving.
5. Reopen the Chart Template Workbook, and the chart and data you cut will have been restored.
6. Repeat steps 2-5 as needed.

Following this approach, the second chart in the following sheet updates when the second set of data is updated. When we examine the source data range of the second chart, we see that it is linked to this second data range.

In Chart Event to Highlight a Series, I showed how to use a chart legend plus chart events instead of a listbox, to select which series to highlight in a multi-series chart sheet. In Chart Event Class Module to Highlight a Series I described a more general approach that works for a chart sheet or an embedded chart. In this article I will show how to apply this class module approach to highlight a series as it is clicked or moused over.

To create a class module, select the workbook’s VB Project in the Project Explorer of the VB Editor. Right click on any of the Project’s members and choose Insert > Class Module, or from the Insert menu, choose Class Module. Name this class module CHighlight. Paste the code below into the class module.

Option Explicit

Public WithEvents cht As Chart

Const iCOLOR_HIGHLIGHT As Long = 5  ' BLUE
Const iCOLOR_BLAND As Long = 15  ' 25% GRAY

Private miSeries As Long

' Click on a series
Private Sub cht_MouseDown(ByVal Button As Long, ByVal Shift As Long, _
                          ByVal x As Long, ByVal y As Long)
  HighlightSeries x, y
End Sub

' Mouse over a series
Private Sub cht_MouseMove(ByVal Button As Long, ByVal Shift As Long, _
                          ByVal x As Long, ByVal y As Long)
  HighlightSeries x, y
End Sub

Private Sub HighlightSeries(ByVal x As Long, ByVal y As Long)
  Dim ElementID As Long
  Dim Arg1 As Long
  Dim Arg2 As Long
  Dim iLegendEntry As Long

  cht.GetChartElement x, y, ElementID, Arg1, Arg2

  If ElementID = xlSeries Or ElementID = xlDataLabel Then

    If miSeries <> Arg1 Then

      ResetSeries

      With cht.SeriesCollection(Arg1)

        With .Border
          .ColorIndex = iCOLOR_HIGHLIGHT
          .Weight = xlMedium
          .LineStyle = xlContinuous
        End With

      End With

      If cht.HasLegend Then
        For iLegendEntry = 1 To cht.Legend.LegendEntries.Count
          If cht.Legend.LegendEntries(iLegendEntry).LegendKey.Border.ColorIndex = iCOLOR_HIGHLIGHT Then
            With cht.Legend.LegendEntries(iLegendEntry).Font
              .ColorIndex = iCOLOR_HIGHLIGHT
              .Background = xlTransparent
              .FontStyle = "Bold"
            End With
          End If
        Next
      End If

      miSeries = Arg1
    End If

  End If

End Sub

Private Sub ResetSeries()
  Dim lgnd As LegendEntry
  Dim srs As Series

  Application.ScreenUpdating = False

  For Each srs In cht.SeriesCollection
    With srs.Border
      .ColorIndex = iCOLOR_BLAND
      .Weight = xlThin
      .LineStyle = xlContinuous
    End With
  Next

  For Each lgnd In cht.Legend.LegendEntries
    With lgnd.Font
      .ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
      .Background = xlTransparent
      .FontStyle = "Regular"
    End With
  Next

  Application.ScreenUpdating = True

End Sub
 

We still need to instantiate the class and define the variable cht. If necessary insert a module the same way you inserted a class module above. Paste the following code into the module.

Option Explicit

Global gclsHighlight As New CHighlight

Sub ActivateChart()
  If Not ActiveChart Is Nothing Then
    Set gclsHighlight.cht = ActiveChart
  Else
    MsgBox "Select a chart and try again.", vbExclamation, "No Active Chart"
  End If
End Sub

Sub DeactivateChart()
  Set gclsHighlight.cht = Nothing
End Sub
 

Declaring the global class variable gclsHighlight with the New keyword instantiates the class.

To assign events to a chart sheet or an embedded chart, select the chart and run the ActivateChart procedure. This procedure sets the cht variable of the class equal to the active chart, thus defining the active chart as the chart which will respond to the events.

When a new chart is activated, the previous one is deactivated automatically. If you need to deactivate the chart, run the DeactivateChart procedure (no chart needs to be selected first).

You can assign either or both commands to a Button or Shape, to an ActiveX Control, or to a Toolbar or Menu, run them from the Tools menu > Macro > Macros, or use the Alt+F8 shortcut function key.

You can download a simple workbook that illustrates this technique: HighlightSeriesWithClickOrMouseOver.zip.

Excel offers many ways to add data to a chart, and almost as many ways to adjust the data which is already in the chart.  I describe them in this blog whenever the need arises, but I thought it would be good to list them all in one place.

Drag and Drop

One of the easiest ways to add data to a chart is to select the range of data, click on the edge, then drag it over and drop it onto the chart.

We see from the highlights in the worksheet that the active chart is populated with the upper block of data (alpha and beta). We want to add the lower block (gamma) to the chart.

The first step is to select the data. When you mouse over the edge of the selection, the cursor shows a four-way arrow, indicating that the selection can be dragged elsewhere.

When the range is dragged over the chart, the chart outline is highlighted, and a plus sign appears next to the cursor, indicating that the selection can be added to the chart.

When the mouse is released to drop the data, the Paste Special dialog pops up, so you can make sure Excel is going to add the data the way you want it to.

Here is the chart with the data added. When the series is selected, we see that the selected range is highlighted to show the series name and Y values. Notice the existing category labels (X values) from the upper range are also highlighted.

This is a handy technique, even if it is limited to data on the same worksheet that the chart is embedded in. For some reason, though, it has been removed from Excel 2007. There are still many ways to accomplish this task.

Copy Paste Special

Instead of dragging the range and depositing it onto the chart, you can get the same result if you copy the selected range, then select the chart, and use Paste Special. The Paste Special box appears, allowing you to adjust the settings, if necessary. Data copied from another worksheet, even another workbook, can be pasted into a chart.

I never got into the habit of dragging and dropping data onto my charts, so I very frequently use Copy and Paste Special.

Copy Paste

You can also copy the selected range, then select the chart and use Paste. This bypasses the Paste Special dialog, instead applying the default settings without disturbing the user.

Neat Trick with Axis Labels

I learned a new trick this week in Excel Chart Tip – Insert Chart Series in an Excel Chart, by Ajay of the DataBison blog. You can use either the Copy Paste or the Drag and Drop technique to replace the category labels in a chart.

The chart’s source data has to be lined up, as in the chart shown below: the category (X) labels and Y values are all parallel and begin in the same row. It’s not necessary that the Y values be in consecutive order, nor that the category (X) labels be located to the left of the Y values. The Y value and category (X) label ranges can span different numbers of columns as long as they start in the same row.

An alternate set of labels can be used to replace the existing category labels. The new labels must be located in the same alignment as the category (X) labels and Y value, and the new labels have to be text labels, not numerical values.

Drag and drop the new label range onto the chart, or copy and paste the labels onto the chart. The new labels replace the existing category labels in the chart.

Drag Highlights in Worksheet

As described in Chart Source Data Highlighting and shown above, the source data range of a chart is highlighted in the worksheet. You can click on the corner of this highlighted range (the cursor turns into a multiple arrowhead)

and drag it to enclose a different range

and the new chart source data will be plotted in the chart.

Obviously this technique is limited to data on the worksheet the chart is embedded in.

Add Series Formula

When you add a series to the chart, you add a series formula. Conversely, if you add a series formula, you also add a series. You can just start from scratch and type the whole formula, but it’s easier start with a copy of an existing formula. I think I used series formulas to edit chart data for a couple years before I realized that there was a source data dialog I could use.

Select an existing series in the chart, and note the series formula in the formula bar. Copy the formula.

Press Esc to exit editing mode in the formula bar. Select the chart area or plot area, click in the formula bar, and paste. Then edit the formula like you would any other formula. Here, references to column C are changed to D, and the plot order is changed from 2 to 3.

If an existing series is selected when you paste the formula in the formula bar, you will be replacing an existing formula, so the selected series will change based on the edited formula.

If the plot order is not changed, the new series will be inserted into the slot defined by the plot order index, and series with that index or higher will be moved higher in the list.

Press Enter to accept the formula, and the chart displays the added data.

You can copy the series formula from anywhere. It can be in the same chart or another chart, or you could save some frequently used formulas in a text file.

The formula can reference data in any worksheet or workbook. Tt can also refer to named ranges, and even data that’s not in a range: the series name can be a string embedded in quotes, while the X or Y values can be entered as an array. For more details, see my article on The Chart Series Formula.

Source Data – Data Range Dialog (2003)

You can add data to the chart using the Source Data dialog, Data Range tab, to stretch the range plotted in the chart. This works best if the data is in a contiguous range. You can’t add an arbitrary series in this manner, because any selection made in this dialog overwrites the existing source data.

Source Data – Series Dialog (2003)

You can use the Series tab of the Source Data dialog to add any arbitrary series to the chart. The series name, X values, and Y values can be defined independently, even taken from different worksheets.

Select Data Source Dialog (2007)

In Excel 2007, the Data Range and Series tabs of the Source data dialog have been combined into the single view on the Select Data Source dialog. The dialog has lost the preview of the chart, and the individual series data has to be selected on small child dialogs that pop up when the user clicks on various buttons (Add or Edit).

Despite the different appearance, this dialog works much the same as its classic equivalents.

I use self-hosted WordPress, called WordPress.org in the ProBlogger results. WordPress is by far the most popular platform, with loads of features and thousands of third-party plugins, and I find it  interesting that so many of the other platforms haven’t disappeared yet. I understand that some people don’t want to hassle with hosting their own blog software,which explains Blogger and WordPress.com as the next two choices. I’ve played a bit with both of these, and I can’t imagine why anyone could possibly use Blogger.

I’m not going to discuss the different platforms, though. I’m going to discuss ProBlogger’s visualizations. I’m not picking on ProBlogger, I’m just showing the type of graphic displays that are all too common, because people rely on familiar buttons in whatever charting program they use.

ProBlogger made pie charts for poll results from 2009, 2007, and 2006.

The pies are huge and ugly (these are reduced to 66% of their original size; click on the link above to see the original’s in ProBlogger’s article). The large sizes of the images forces us to scroll up and down to compare the charts. Not only are they large in pixels, the polka dot texture leads to image file sizes close to half a megabyte, or 50 kilobytes per data point (my reduced images are only around 200 KB).

Besides the unfortunate formatting, the pies suffer from several problems common in pie charts. With ten points in each chart, the last few are pretty small. (These charts do have a segment for “Other”, which a team from Microsoft even forgot.) In an attempt to make the values readable, data labels have been added to display the percentages. Of course, these labels overlap, so they fail at their intended purpose.

The corresponding bar charts are only 6 or 7 kilobytes per chart, and are easy to read. Data labels and aren’t required, because the parallel bar lengths can be compared more easily than misoriented wedge areas or angles. A legend is also unneeded: the labels in a horizontal bar chart are horizontal, thus easy to read, and positioned adjacent to the plotted data points.

In these bar charts, the colors are not even needed. Their presence here helps to illustrate a weakness in many sets of pie charts: the colors do not refer to the same platform. This makes comparisons between years difficult, since the encoding changes from chart to chart.

This color confusion can be avoided in bar charts by using a single color for all bars. None of these monochromatic bar charts is any less informative than the corresponding  multicolored bar charts above.

You could add data labels, but they’re not really necessary.

Comparisons between years is made difficult by using a separate chart for each year. With a pie you’re stuck with separate charts. Well, you could make a donut chart, but nobody can tell me this chart isn’t totally illegible:

However, you can combine ths data into a bar chart, and the result is not too awful.

You could use a dot plot, but you lose any sense of the passage of time from year to year.

The vertical sense of time in the bar chart is contrary to the customary horizontal depiction of time. A column chart can address this, but it suffers from hard to read vertical labels.

Generally, lines are better than columns at showing time series. This can be accomplished with a panel chart:

The chart above spaces the yearly data equally even though the space between the years of the last two polls is double the space between the years of the first two polls. If the polls were run in April 2006-October 2007-April 2009, this spacing is correct, but if the polls were given in the same months of each year, you may want to adjust the spacing.

From this chart we can readily compare the usage and trends in usage for several popular blog platforms, as reported by the readers of ProBlogger.net who responded to the poll. Use of the three most popular blogging platforms has increased since the first poll in 2006, while use of other platforms (those named as well as those combined into “other”) has declined.

To summarize, the blog platform poll results charts can be improved by

• Eliminating gratuitous textured formats,
• Replacing pie charts with more effective chart types, such as bars or lines,
• Combining poll results from multiple dates in a single chart, such as a panel chart.

It’s hardly a better infographic than a kid using chalk on the driveway. You can’t tell which loops and curves are defined by data, and which are mere embellishments.

If markers are added, you can get a feel for the patterns of the data, though the curvee can be a distraction. There is no reason to draw the retrograde loop around x=6. The data also does not merit the local maximum at x=10.7 and y=10.3, nor the local minimum at x=12 and y=5.5.

If the lines are straight (below), you can guess where there are data points anchoring the lines, though you don’t know whether there might be points located along a straight segment.

The best way to represent data, and the only way to be honest about the data, is to use markers for each known point, connected by straight line segments. This is particularly true for measured data which may have uncertainty in the actual values.

This chart shows markers where there are actual points, connects adjacent points with straight lines, and does not make any implicit statements about values between data points.

The following 12-month rolling chart of product sales presents a more practical example.

What were maximum and minimum sales in the previous year’s section of the chart? Did sales really dip below zero this winter? What weree sales in April? I don’t think you can even define negative sales, unless you had a lot of returns. The curvy lines give uncertainty to the sales values and falsely indicate trends in the data. The lack of markers even means you can’t tell with any certainty where each month’s data point is even located.

When plotted properly, we can see that the maximum far the seven months of 2008 was 25, in December, and the minimum was 10 in September and October. February and March of this year had no sales, but in April, sales jumped to 25. And we can be as certain of these observations as we are of the original data.

The X values are highlighted with a purple border, the series names with a green border, and the Y values with a blue border. If any of these parameters have not been defined, or they are not defined by a range in the chart’s parent worksheet, the corresponding colored borders are not displayed.

When the Source Data dialog (Excel 2003 and earlier) is displayed, the Series tab selected, and a series is picked in the Series list, the three ranges defining the series are shown in the various input boxes.

In Excel 2007 the series can be selected, but only the X axis values or labels can be seen, and there are no range references shown.

In one of Excel 2007’s most egregious insults to productivity, two child dialogs must be shown in sequence to see the ranges containing the series data ranges. It may be necessary to cycle back and forth several times before finishing with this dialog’s multiple windows.

Only the arguments of the series formula that are defined in the sheet can be highlighted. In this chart, but o, series One has no name definend at all, only a blank slot in the series formula, so Excel applies the default “SeriesX” name. Likewise no X values have been specified, so Excel applies the counting numbers {1, 2, 3, etc.}. Only the Y values are higlighted in the worksheet.

In this chart, not even the Y values can be highlighted, as they are defined by a hard-coded array.

All of this chart’s series One arguments are hard-coded: arrays for X and Y values and a text label for its name.

In the Source Data dialog, these parameters are indicated by text and arrays.

The same goes for Excel 2007

except of course that we have to dive twice into deeper layers of dialogs.

When a chart’s entire data range is highlighted, and the data for a series is moved independent of data for the other series, the highlighting breaks down. As long as each of the ranges remains contiguous, the data ranges for a series can still be displayed. In this example, it doesn’t matter that the Y values for series Two has been misaligned from its X values and series name.

This article provides a cleaner explanation of this topic, which was previously covered in Highlighted Chart Source Data.

This highlighting is displayed when the chart area of the chart is selected…

… and when the plot area of the chart is selected.

The X values are highlighted with a purple border, the series names with a green border, and the Y values with a blue border. If the series names or the X values have not been defined, the corresponding colored borders are not displayed.

Examining the Chart Source Data Range

The original source data range which is illustrated in this screen shot

is referenced in the Data Range input box in the Classic Excel (up to 2003) Source Data dialog

and in the Chart Data Range input box in the Excel 2007 Select Data Source dialog.

When focus is on these input boxes, the source data range is outlined with the “marching ants” border.

The source data range is “well formed” because it is defined by the intersection (below, dark gray) of entire rows and entire columns (light gray). The series names and the X values are aligned with the Y values.

Not only do these highlights show the location of the chart data, they can be manually adjusted without opening a dialog or editing the series formulas.

Adjusting the Chart Source Data Range

When the mouse passes over the cornerof a highlighted region, the border becomes thicker, and the cursor is replaced by the northwest-southeast arrow icon, indicating to an alert user that the range can be resized. In this view, the range has been stretched by one row and one column.

The Y values range can be resized in both directions, but it cannot be shrunk to zero rows or columns, and it cannot be stretched backward to overlap the X values or series names. The series names range can be stretched only in the direction to add or remove series names, horizontally in the view above. The X values range can be stretched only in the direction to add or remove points, horizontally in this view. When one of these ranges is resized, the other ranges resize accordingly.

When the mouse passes over the edge of a highlighted region, the border becomes thicker, and the cursor is replaced by the four-arrow icon, indicating that the range can be moved.

The screen shot below shows the Y values range dragged one row down and one column right.

The Y values range can be moved in both directions, but it cannot be moved backward to overlap the X values or series names. The series names range can be moved only in the direction to change series names, horizontally in the view above. The X values range can be movedonly in the direction to change which points are plotted, vertically in this view. When one of these ranges is moved, the other ranges move accordingly.

The Excel 2003 Data Range input box shows the address of this multiple area range

as does the Excel 2007 Chart Data Range input box.

This areas of this multiple-area range are surrounded by the marching ants.

We can show that although the range consists of multiple areas, it is still well-formed. The areas of the range can be defined by the intersection of entire rows and entire columns.

A Poorly Formed Chart Source Data Range

What happens when the range is not well-formed? In the following, the Y values range for series Two in the range above chart has been offset one row upward (pink).

This offset has disturbed the neat arrangement of the chart’s source data, and Excel cannot readily display such a range. Instead, Excel 2003 explains that the data range is too complex to be displayed, and warns you that if you select another range, it will wipe out all of the series you’ve painstakingly added to your chart.

Excel 2007 displays the same explanation and warning.

I hope this feature will make your charting gymnastics easier. In a future post I’ll show how you can use related highlighting that shows the name, X values, and Y values of a single series when it is selected.

This article provides a cleaner explanation of this topic, which was previously covered in Highlighted Chart Source Data.

- – -

It is often desirable to sort the individual stacks so that smaller values are plotted on larger values. Last week I was asked how to do this, and I thought I’d try doing it with worksheet formulas, and if that became too complex then I’d work something up in VBA.

Worksheet Formula Approach

The worksheet formula approach requires more than three series, each series having some values and some zeros, so that stacking thee values and zeros together shows the visible data points in order of size. The data range is duplicated below, with a second range constructed with formulas to plot the visible data in the proper order.

For three visible series, seven series are required. The formulas, derived with careful algorithms and especially with trial and error, are listed below. These formulas go into row 2, and are copied down to fill the range.

$F$2     =IF(AND(B2>=C2,B2>=D2),B2,"")
$G$2     =IF(AND(D2>B2,D2>C2),D2,"")
$H$2     =IF(OR(C2>B2,C2>=D2),C2,"")
$I$2     =IF(OR(AND(B2>=C2,B2<D2),AND(B2>=D2,B2<C2)),B2,"")
$J$2     =IF(OR(D2<=B2,D2<=C2),D2,"")
$K$2     =IF(AND(C2<=B2,C2<D2),C2,"")
$L$2     =IF(AND(B2<C2,B2<D2),B2,"")

Create a chart with the calculated values, and use the same formatting for all series with the same name.

Remove redundant legend entries: click once to select the legend, then once more to select the legend entry (the text, not the colored box), and press Delete.

Three is about the most distinct series you could easily do with this technique. If three series required seven columns of calculations, four must require eleven or more (I got too tangled up to sort this out).

An upcoming post will show a VBA technique that is not limited to three series.

Recent questions in various online forums

• I want to use labels instead of a legend around my pie chart to make it easier to see which slice goes with which category. Sometimes these labels overlap each other in areas where the values are small. Is there any way to prevent the labels from overlapping?
• I have a pie chart where I want to show values on the chart, but the values blend together on the small slices and look a mess.
• In my pie chart, how can I prevent Excel from treating negative values as if they were positive (Excel uses the absolute value)?
• I had to re-format a graph in Excel because the person for whom it was prepared is colorblind. The very distinct (to me) red and green lines on the graph were indistinguishable to him.
• I have a bunch of pie charts, and I can’t get them to look the same size.

My responses to these questions

Rather than a pie chart, make a nice bar chart, oriented with horizontal bars. The labels run along the left edge of the chart, and they don’t overlap because they are equidistant. Numerical value labels are less important in a bar chart, because they are not needed to help compare values.

All data points (bars) in the bar chart are easy to compare because they share a common baseline, the axis along the left edge of the chart. Each data point (wedge) in the pie chart starts where the previous one ends, so there is no common baseline.

The bars encode their values using length, and all bars are aligned in the same direction, making comparison so easy. The wedges encode their values using angles or areas, which humans do not perceive as accurately as length. Since the wedges are all misoriented, it is even harder to make accurate comparisons.

The small data points (wedges in the pie, bars in the bar chart) are easier to see in the bar chart.

All of the bar colors in the bar chart are the same, so a colorblind individual can interpret its contents as easily as a person with normal color vision. If you wanted to highlight one point or a group of points, you could pick two colors that can be distinguished by people who have any color vision issues.

Pie chart with legend: identifiers are far from data points.

Pie chart with labels: identifiers are close to data points, but overlap.

Pie chart with value labels: values are hard to read on smaller data points.

Bar chart: category labels are close to data and legible,
data labels are not necessary.

Negative values in bar charts are plotted in the reverse direction, accurately indicating absolute value and sign of the data. Negative values in pie charts should be undefined, but Excel plots them as positive values.

Pie chart with negative values: you would never know unless
you looked closely at the value labels.

Pie chart with negative values and precentage labels:
percents are deceptively not presented as negatives.

Left: Bar chart with negative values: negatives clearly go opposite direction from axis.
Right: Bar chart with inverted colors for negative values: a visible clue that the values are negative.

Multiple pie charts are a bad idea made N times worse. It is very difficult to compare wedge angles on separate pies: there is no common baseline and the wedges may be misaligned.  You end up with something that looks like you need a stereoscopic viewer to read.

You can put multiple sets of bars into a single bar chart, and get an instant comparison among each pair of bars. There is no need to make different charts the same size, because you have only one chart. When there are a lot of bars, you can unclutter the visualization if you use a dot plot.

Dual pie charts for comparing values: who are we fooling?

Left: Two series bar chart for comparing values: effective albeit cluttered.
Right: Two series dot plot for comparing values: effective and clean.

Previous pie chart related articles on this web site

• Bar graphs vs. Pie charts
• 3D Pie Charts
• Pie Chart Rounding in Excel
• Paper Pie Charts?
• Pie Chart for Pi Day
• Pie Chart Plotting Deficiency
• Pie Chart Traffic Light
• Column Chart to Replace Multiple Pie Charts
• How to Make a Donut-Pie Combination Chart
• Pizza Pi
• Peltier Loves Pie
• Peltier Goes Bar Hopping
• 9 Steps to Simpler Chart Formatting
• Stick a Chart in it
• Scary Info Graphic
• Ineffective Chart – Partition Chart
• Ineffective Chart – Partition Chart Revisited (Defragged)
• Seth’s Three Laws of Great Graphs
• On Seth Godin on Charts

Wow, that’s a lot!

Here is the original slide:

Here is all that Jan had to do, in his own words:

• I reduced the template to a logo at the bottom right of the page, eliminating all other distracting elements. I really like white space.
• I rigorously applied the Skype corporate colors and fonts.
• I changed to a simple column chart without 3D.
• I replaced the vertical axis with data labels.
• I re-wrote the headline.
• I replaced the yellow star to give the text more connection to the numbers (still it would have been better to show the actual profit numbers).

Where have we heard these steps before? I guess charting best practices are platform independent. They work as well in PowerPoint as in Excel.

As proof, check out the “after” slide:

The subtitle of Jan’s blog is Better PowerPoint Presentations. If you follow advice like his, it can only improve your own presentations.