There are various fills that you can apply to the Plot Area of a chart, such as a
solid color, a
picture, a
texture, or a
pattern, or a gradient
fill. Gradient fills are typically blended fills between two or more colors that graduate from one color to another -- and if you use
neutral or muted colors, then a gradient fill can provide a great, understated backdrop for your chart. In this tutorial, let us learn
how to apply a gradient fill to the Plot Area
of a chart:
- Select the chart that you want to format the Plot Area for. If you don't have a chart,
insert a new chart.
- Now, carefully right-click (or Ctrl+click) the
Plot Area -- from the resultant menu, select
the Format Plot Area option, as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: Format Plot Area option
- This summons the Format Plot Area dialog box, as shown in Figure 2. Make sure that the
Fill option is selected within the sidebar (highlighted in red within
Figure 2). Then select the Gradient tab (highlighted in blue within
Figure 2) -- within this tab, at this point you can see that most of the options are greyed out. That is because, you
haven't selected any gradient style yet -- this is indicated by the Style option set to None
(highlighted in green within Figure 2).
Figure 2: Format Plot Area dialog box
- Choose any gradient style (highlighted in red within Figure 3) and all options within
Gradient tab will be activated as shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Gradient style selected within the Format Plot Area dialog box
All gradient fill options within the Gradient tab of the Format Plot Area dialog box work similar to
the options within the Gradient tab of the Format Shape dialog box, except the
Rotate gradient with shape option. This is because the charts cannot be rotated.
Note: Even though the Rotate gradient with shape check-box is
available for selection within the Format Plot Area dialog box, selecting/deselecting it won't make any difference to
the gradient fill. This is because you can't rotate the Plot Area.
For more info on these options, refer to points 5-A to 5-G in our
Add Gradient Fills to Shapes in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac tutorial.
- Select the required option from the Gradient tab of the Format Plot Area dialog box. In
Figure 5 you can see the Format Plot Area dialog box showing the gradient setting options we choose for our
sample chart's Plot Area. After selecting the required options, click the OK button within the Format Plot Area
dialog box to get back to your slide.
Figure 5: Gradient option set within the Format Plot Area dialog box
In Figure 6, you can see the Plot Area of our sample chart filled with a gradient fill (compare with partially
visible chart in Figure 1).
Figure 5: Plot Area applied with a gradient fill
- Save your presentation often.
See Also:
Apply Gradient Fills to Plot Area of Charts in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows