Chart Styles in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows

Making a chart look different translates to so much involvement. That’s because each chart has almost 10 or more elements that contribute to its appearance. Of course, you can format all these 10 elements individually, and end up spending some quality time exploring nuances that end up with some amazing and distinctive results. But what if you want the same format applied to another chart? The same format will be difficult to apply to any other chart because you will have to remember all the attributes you applied in the first chart—not to speak about the time it will take to create a coordinated chart.

The savior, in this case can be the amazing Chart Styles option in PowerPoint 2016 for Windows. These Chart Styles include predefined combinations of various chart elements and include effects and layouts that can change their appearance. Even better, these styles are influenced by Office Themes. Just a couple of clicks can make your charts look distinctive.

To apply a Chart Style, you first need to have a chart in your presentation. Learn how to insert a chart in PowerPoint 2016, and then follow these steps to apply a Chart Style in PowerPoint 2016:

1. Select the chart to which you want to apply a Chart Style. Selecting the chart will bring up the Chart Tools Design and Format contextual chart tabs on the Ribbon, as shown in Figure 1. Select the Design contextual chart tab (highlighted in blue within Figure 1). Locate the Chart Styles group, and click the downward pointing arrow (highlighted in red within Figure 1).
2. 
   Figure 1: Design tab for the Chart selected
Note: The Picture Tools Format tab is a Contextual tab. These tabs are special tabs in the Ribbon that are not visible all the time. They only make an appearance when you are working with a particular slide object which can be edited using special options.
2. Doing so opens the Chart Styles gallery, as shown in Figure 2 (highlighted in red).
3. 
   Figure 2: Chart Styles gallery
3. Hover your cursor on any chart style preview thumbnail as shown highlighted in red within Figure 3, and you can see the Live Preview of that Chart Style on the chart selected on your slide, as shown in Figure 3.
4. 
   Figure 3: Chart showing the live preview
4. Explore all Chart Styles and decide which one works best for you. Then, to apply any style, click on the preview thumbnail of the chart style you want. This applies the Chart Style to your selected chart, as shown in Figure 4.
5. 
   Figure 4: Chart Style applied

More Charts, Same Look?

This process only applies the Chart Style to the selected chart. If you have more than one chart in your presentation, you will have to repeat this process for each chart.

5. Save your presentation.