Sams Teach Yourself StarOffice® 5 for Linux in 24 Hours

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Hour 20: Adding Graphics and Charts to Your Presentation

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Using Charts from Spreadsheets


Using charts within a presentation can be a powerful tool of persuasion. A good chart combines the visual impact of a graphic with the facts that you convey through the details of the chart.

StarOffice makes it easy to combine a chart with your presentation because the charting tools are part of the same program.

Importing a Chart

The easiest way to import a chart from a spreadsheet is to use the standard copy and paste functions. Follow these steps:

1. Go to the spreadsheet that contains a chart that you want to use in your presentation.

2. Click on the chart to select it (so that it has green handles on all sides).

3. Choose Copy from the Edit menu.

4. Switch to the presentation you're working on by selecting it from the Window menu.

5. Move to the slide on which you want the chart inserted.

6. Choose Paste from the Edit menu. The chart appears in the slide as an object that you can resize or move. (See Figure 20.12.)

Figure 20.12
Charts can be added to a presentation by using Copy and Paste from a spreadsheet.

Caution - Charts that you copy from a spreadsheet and paste into a presentation slide are not linked to the spreadsheet. That is, they do not update instantly if the numbers in the spreadsheet change.

Inserting a spreadsheet

If the chart isn't enough, you can add a mini-spreadsheet to a slide in your presentation. The mini-spreadsheet functions like a regular spreadsheet in StarOffice, but it's surrounded by a presentation slide.

A spreadsheet within a slide provides a good structure for presenting tables of figures. Be careful, however, not to place too much in the spreadsheet, or the slide won't be legible.

To insert a spreadsheet into your slide, choose Spreadsheet from the Insert menu while viewing a slide in Drawing mode. A miniature spreadsheet appears in the slide, ready to have numbers entered (see Figure 20.13).

Figure 20.13
A spreadsheet can be inserted into a slide within a presentation.

Note - During editing of spreadsheet data, the slide might appear distorted. The slide appearance is restored when you click outside the spreadsheet to end editing mode.


Sams Teach Yourself StarOffice® 5 for Linux in 24 Hours

ContentsIndex

Hour 20: Adding Graphics and Charts to Your Presentation

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