Need your help: colors in data charts PPT 2003 versus 2007

March 10, 2009 · by Jan Schultink

Colors in data charts. This 2003-2007 compatibility issue drives me crazy. Many of my clients still use Office 2003. Does anyone have a solution?

PPT 2003 uses Microsoft Graph for data charts, PPT 2007 Excel
I create a chart in 2007
I save the 2007 PPTX in 2003 PPT format
I (or my client) opens the 2003 PPT file and
right-clicks the chart to open it: all the colors are off…

I have to change every color manually using RGB codes to set them permanently to the correct value in 2003.

There must be a better way to do this! Let me know if you know.

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3 comments

Anonymous2009-03-10 16:13:00

I don't have Office 2007, but would it make any difference if you made the chart in Excel 2007, saved *that* chart in 2003 .xls format and then imported that into your 2007 .pptx file?

Chrislbs2009-03-10 14:29:00

What about the add-in to 2003 PPT that allows reading PPTX files? If you save it as a PPTX file, I would think the colors would be stable.

Jan Schultink2009-03-12 18:43:00

@chris, I will try this, but it is always hard to suggest clients to plug, upgrade their software just to read my work.

@anonymous, maybe this works, but it would still be a complex procedure, hindering collaborative presentation design with my clients.