My boss has a PowerPoint template that he and the other economists use. It has 26 sample slides, 23 of which are various sorts of charts. For some of the slides, when we look at the data, there is a "blue box" around the data. For others, there is no "blue box." He wants the data for each slide to have that box around the data. I assume this has something to do with selecting the data the chart will use but these charts are already created and I have no clue how to make the blue box appear. I could probably find an answer if I knew how to ask the question in a sensible manner but unfortunately, I don't - and I don't have much time before I have to have an answer for him.

As you can probably tell, I'm a total newbie to charts. I'm using Office 2007 on Win XP at home to try and figure this out. At work, I have Windows 7 and am using Office 2010. I assume that shouldn't be any sort of a problem.

Hi Karyn

I can't really visualize your "blue box" Can you post a screenshot somewhere??

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Microsoft PowerPoint MVP 2007-2023
Free Advanced PowerPoint Tips and Tutorials

Sorry for the delay in my reply.

I've uploaded a screen shot right here.

That's the box used to select data to include (drag the lower right blue triangle)
It should always be there!

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Microsoft PowerPoint MVP 2007-2023
Free Advanced PowerPoint Tips and Tutorials

Do I assume, then, that for the ones that don't have the box, I'll need to recreate the slides from scratch?

I'm no expert on charts but I think if the charts were made in Excel and pasted in then you will only see the blue selection box if the Excel file is actually open. Maybe someone else knows more.

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Microsoft PowerPoint MVP 2007-2023
Free Advanced PowerPoint Tips and Tutorials

Whatever Excel files they came out of a few years ago are likely long since gone. I do appreciate your assistance!

Any chance you know of a resource that shows which colors in the Theme Colors will apply to the different parts of a chart? I know chart designs aren't the primary focus of PowerPoint but that's primarily what we use them for. We got a new logo and new colors and now I'm trying to turn our old template into our new template - with no PowerPoint knowledge and only in my "spare time" - which I have very little of and none of it is while I'm at work.