The Plot Area of a chart, which is transparent by
default, can be enhanced with various fill types
. But you should exercise some caution, a busy Plot Area will subdue the actual chart! This can be avoided by taking a little precaution while
choosing the fill type and also when you apply it. In this tutorial, we will explore texture fills:
- Open your presentation in PowerPoint 2013. Select the chart that you
want to format the Plot Area for. If you don't have an existing chart,
insert a new chart in your slide.
- Now, carefully right-click the Plot Area to bring up a contextual menu as shown in Figure 1. In this
contextual menu, select the Format Plot Area option (refer to Figure 1 again). If you do not get
the Format Plot Area option in the contextual menu, you may have right-clicked on another chart element, make
sure you then deselect anything in the chart, and then right-click on the edge of the Plot Area again.
Figure 1: Format Plot Area option
- This opens the Format Plot Area
Task Pane, as shown in
Figure 2. In this Task Pane, click the Fill & Line button, highlighted in
red within Figure 2 and click the Picture or texture fill radio
button (highlighted in blue within Figure 2). This opens the options where you can
choose between a picture or a texture to fill your chart's Plot Area, as shown in Figure 2. Click the
Texture button (highlighted in green within Figure 2).
Figure 2: Picture or texture fill option selected
- This will bring up the Textures gallery, as shown in Figure 3. Within this gallery, you will find
24 different textures which you can choose from, click on any texture thumbnail to apply as a Chart Plot Area fill. In Figure 3 you
can see the texture named Bouquet being selected.
Figure 3: Textures gallery
- At this point, you can make some more changes to the texture fill using the other options in the
Format Plot Area Task Pane, as explained below:
i. If you want to change the transparency of the texture fill, you can use the Transparency slider that you can
see in Figure 4, below (highlighted in red).
ii. When you use the texture as a fill, the Tile check-box will be selected by default (highlighted in
blue within Figure 4). You can deselect it if you want. Taking this option further,
you can also
add your own picture as a fill, and then select the Tile check-box to use that picture as a tiled texture.
Figure 4: Transparency slider and Tile check-box
- When you click on a texture thumbnail, the Plot Area of the Chart gets filled with the selected texture, as shown in
Figure 5.
Figure 5: Plot Area applied with a texture fill
- Save your presentation often.
See Also:
Apply Texture Fills to Plot Area of Charts in PowerPoint 2011