Chart Styles in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows

Making a chart look different involves so much because each chart has almost 10 or more elements that contribute to its appearance. If you start formatting all these 10 elements individually, it will take a long time to get results. And the same attributes will be difficult to apply to any other chart within the same presentation. The saviour in this case can be the amazing Chart Styles option in PowerPoint 2013. These Chart Styles include predefined combinations for various chart elements and include effects and layouts that can change the look of your chart completely. And, all these styles are based on 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 2013, and then follow these steps to apply a chart style in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows:

1. Select the chart to which you want to apply a chart style. Doing so 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 red within Figure 1). Locate the Chart Styles group, and click the downward pointing arrow (highlighted in blue within Figure 1).
2. 
   Figure 1: Design tab for the Chart selected
Note: The Design and Format tabs are Contextual tabs. 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 in PowerPoint

More Charts, Same Look?

The process explained on this page applies the Chart Style only to the selected chart. If you more than one chart in your presentation, you will have to repeat this process for each chart.
5. Save your presentation.