Save AND Apply PowerPoint Chart Styles

Formatting the visual styling of charts can be… tedious. When a presentation has a number of charts, all needing the same visual styling, saving a chart template can be a huge time saver!

  1. Format a chart with all of the visual styling. Here is the sample stylized chart for this tutorial.

  2. Right click the chart and select SAVE AS TEMPLATE

  3. In the SAVE CHART TEMPLATE dialog, give the chart template a (short) name that helps identify the styling (ie. project name, type of chart, colors used, etc.). The Chart Template is automatically saved into the Microsoft/Templates/Charts folder (and must be in this folder for PowerPoint to use it).
  4. To apply the chart template styling to a chart, select a chart, right click and select CHANGE CHART TYPE
  5. In the Charts dialog, select TEMPLATES and the custom template to apply
  6. Click OK and done!

 

Here is an unformatted chart.

And here is the same chart with the above chart template (4 clicks and formatted!).

NOTES:

  • Chart Templates are local to a computer, they DO NOT travel with a presentation.
  • Chart Template thumbnails are very limited in the visual and description, so if you have many it can be difficult to tell them apart.
  • Right-click to Save Template was introduced with an Office365 PowerPoint 2016 update, I have not tested in previous versions. 

 

Troy @ TLC