Thank you for your time and your detailed answer. This was the
conclusion
and
the workaround I was pretty much resigned to (getting 200+ people in my
company to all install the templates is going to be an ongoing battle
of
wills, and I'm not looking forward to it), but I was hoping there was a
fix I
was missing. < sigh > Many things about how charts are handled in 2007
do
not
seem well thought-out, to say the least.
I think your color scheme may be messed up.
When you look at the Chart Styles in the Chart Tools Design tab,
Styles
2,
10, 18, 26, 36, and 42 should all show you a range of colors as
opposed
to
shades and tints of one color. You may be seeing that, but saying that
only styles 2 and 36 come close to what you need (because they're not
3D
or on a black background, etc.). No worries, just trying to clarify.
Yes, this is correct; we don't use the 3D or shadowed looks. No
worries, I
figured out what you meant.
Thanks again for your time.
:
Oh, I meant to delete the thing about your color scheme being messed
up.
It's not. Sorry for that red herring!
--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007?
http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://tinyurl.com/36grcd
PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit
http://tinyurl.com/32a7nx
Thanks, that helps.
I think your color scheme may be messed up.
When you look at the Chart Styles in the Chart Tools Design tab,
Styles
2,
10, 18, 26, 36, and 42 should all show you a range of colors as
opposed
to
shades and tints of one color. You may be seeing that, but saying
that
only styles 2 and 36 come close to what you need (because they're
not
3D
or on a black background, etc.). No worries, just trying to clarify.
Anyway, these colors come from the accent colors that were specified
in
your color scheme. The chart colors start with Accent 1 and go on
through
Accent 6.
Now I do see what you mean, though. Opening a new, blank
presentation,
inserting a chart and choosing Style 2 ... the default chart looks
fine.
If I add a fourth data series, all is well. If I add a fifth, all is
well.
If I add a sixth, the colors on all six columns change to darker
shades
of
the original colors. This is the "muddy" you're seeing.
This is PowerPoint attempting to add contrast, I believe, because if
I
continue adding data series (up to 12), they show up in the
original,
brighter, colors. If I add a thirteenth data series, it's a tint
(color
plus white) of the original shade.
Either someone at Microsoft didn't think this through when designing
this,
or someone at Microsoft put a lot of thought into it -- I'm not sure
which! I can see wanting a darker to lighter series of colors --
which
is
what happens as you continue to add data series, but it doesn't work
well
for charts when you have 12 or fewer data series.
If I had to work with this, I would remove the "automatic" settings
from
the colors in the chart. Right-click the first data series, choose
Format
Data Series, and then choose the Fill tab on the left. Select Solid
Fill
in the Format Data Series dialog. Click to open the color dropdown
and
choose your first accent color. Repeat for the rest of the data.
Once you've done that for a sample chart with a TON of
datapoints/series,
you can save a chart template. Select your chart, then on the Chart
Tools
Design tab, click Save As Template. You'll be prompted to save the
CRTX
file, and it will take you to the appropriate folder automatically
(on
Vista, it's
C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates\Charts).
Then when you insert a chart the next time use Insert | Chart and
choose
the Templates folder at the top of the dialog box. Select your
sample
chart (you can even set it as the default chart) and continue on
your
way.
You can send the CRTX files to your colleages with instructions on
which
folder to put them in, and they'll show up in Insert | Chart |
Templates
for them as well.
--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007?
http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://tinyurl.com/36grcd
PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit
http://tinyurl.com/32a7nx
Excuse me, I misunderstood the question.
The only charts styles that appear to pick up the 'different color
for
each
slide' scheme that we use (as opposed to the 'different shades of
the
same
color') are Styles 2 and 34. In each case, the chart starts out
with
the
correct colors, but as soon as I alter the chart by adding or
removing
data
rows or columns (Changing Data Range), all of the colors
immediately
get
darker and muddier.
:
No, I mean if you go to the Chart Tools Design tab, there's a
bunch
of
colored charts there. What one do you have selected?
--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007?
http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://tinyurl.com/36grcd
PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit
http://tinyurl.com/32a7nx
We use non-3D charts -- the problem has been consistent across
pie
charts
and
clustered column and bar charts.
:
Which chart style have you chosen on the Chart Tools Design
tab?
--
Echo [MS PPT MVP]
http://www.echosvoice.com
What's new in PPT 2007?
http://www.echosvoice.com/2007.htm
Fixing PowerPoint Annoyances
http://tinyurl.com/36grcd
PowerPoint 2007 Complete Makeover Kit
http://tinyurl.com/32a7nx
I have set a custom theme in a Powerpoint 2007 presentation
which
will
serve
as a template for my corporation, using our corporate color
scheme
(which
was
carefully chosen to display well in grayscale as well as
onscreen).
However, when I create a new chart and begin adding numbers,
my
colors
are
replaced with different shades of those colors, which do not
match
the
rest
of the presentation and generally look quite bad.
Is there a way to make new charts use my theme colors only,
without
changing
them, or is this another way in which Powerpoint 2007 is
'helping'
me?
I
do
note that the new shades are clearly distinguishable in
grayscale --
but
so
were my colors.
But, again, thanks for the advice.