Charts

A chart is just a graphical representation of some numbers and for this reason a lot of people refer to charts as graphs.
A chart is simple a series of numbers rendered as a graph.

PowerPoint simplifies the process of inserting an Excel chart by actually embedding it as an object in the slide.
An embedded object is an object that maintains a direct connection to its original program.
After you insert an embedded object you can easily edit it by double clicking it.
This opens up the program in which it was originally created.

Embedding objects into your presentations will increase the file size.
An alternative to embedding the object is to link it.
The presentation only stores an image of the original chart and contains a link back to the original workbook.

When an embedded chart is edited the menus and toolbars change.

Creating Charts

There are a number of different ways you can insert Excel charts into PowerPoint.

This is the chart engine provided In PowerPoint
Very similar the chart wizard in Excel with some subtle differences.
This lets you create a chart directly in PowerPoint.
This method does not offer any formula or calculation capabilities.
You can supply the numbers, or you can copy them from an Excel spreadsheet.

If you copy and paste a chart from Excel into PowerPoint you can ungroup it and animate it in the normal way.

Microsoft Graph

Charts (or graphs) are actually created by a separate program called Microsoft Graph.
Microsoft Graph is extremely well integrated with PowerPoint and often is not thought of as a separate application,

If you have cropped close to the image and need to add space between the image and the border. Select the graphic and hold down Shift while you drag the handles to increase the space.
To display charts (or pictures) next to each other place them in a table with multiple columns.
The easiest way to insert a windows metafile (.wmf) into a document is to select (Insert > Picture > From File).
A quick way to import an chart Excel graph into a Word document is to just drag and drop it.

Using MS Graph is a nightmare and should be avoided if possible, ideally your charts should be formatted and copied and pasted from Excel as pictures.

Microsoft Graph is an example of an embedded object.

Inserting Charts from Excel

It is possible to insert charts that have been created in other applications, such as Microsoft Excel.

Always try and get them the correct size in Excel before copying them as resizing them will change the font size.
If you paste a chart from the clipboard, PowerPoint will embed the entire workbook - paste as picture ??

Options

(Edit tab, New charts take on PowerPoint font) - Sets the font for inserted charts at 18-point Arial. To use the chart's fonts, clear this check box.
(Save tab, Convert charts when saving as previous version - Automatically converts charts to a usable format when you save your presentation so that the chart can be opened in an earlier version of Microsoft PowerPoint.

Important

It is possible to create elaborate charts but the most effective graphs are simple column and pie charts.