Charts

This group of instructions adds and edits charts on a slide: it inserts a bar, column, line, or pie chart built from your own data, and then lets you replace the data, change the chart type, set a title, show or hide the legend, and choose the series colors.

Prerequisite: before using any of these instructions, the workflow must already have a PPTX presentation created or opened (with Create presentation), which these instructions will act upon. Every instruction except Insert Chart also needs the chart to already exist — insert it first with Insert Chart, then edit it with the others.

These concepts recur across every instruction in this group; they are explained here once.

• Document: indicates which document in the workflow the instruction applies to. If left empty, the current document is used.

• Slide numbers start at 1: charts live on a slide, referred to by its position. The first slide is 1, the second is 2, and so on. The Slide number field uses this numbering.

• Out-of-range slide numbers do nothing: if the slide number does not exist in the presentation (for example, slide 5 in a 3-slide deck), the instruction does nothing and the workflow continues with the next instruction.

• Charts are identified by their name: every chart has a name. Insert Chart lets you set the Chart name (default Chart1); every other instruction finds the charts to edit by that name and applies to every chart with it. Leaving Chart name empty applies the instruction to all charts on the slide. If no chart matches, the instruction does nothing.

• How chart data is written — series, categories, and values: the three data fields are comma-separated lists:

  • Series names — the name of each data series (for example Sales, or 2023,2024 for two series).
  • Categories — the labels along the axis (for example Jan,Feb,Mar).
  • Values — the numbers, listed one series after another: the first block of values (as many as there are categories) belongs to the first series, the next block to the second series, and so on. A value that is not a number counts as 0.

  A pie chart only ever uses the first series.

• Chart types: bar (horizontal bars), column (vertical bars), line, or pie. Any unrecognized type is treated as column.

• Measurements and colors: positions and sizes are given in centimeters (cm); colors as hex codes (for example 4472C4), with or without a leading #.

• Dynamic values (@name): in any text field you can type @ followed by the name of a value saved earlier in the workflow, and it will be replaced by that value. For example, if you saved category labels in months, you can type @months in the Categories field.

• Saving a result: Insert Chart offers a Save chart name in field that stores the new chart’s name under a name you choose. If left empty, nothing is saved. Every instruction that changes a chart selects it by name, so this is what you chain with.

• “From variable” fields: the @name trick only works in text fields. So that a numeric field (like Slide number or Width (cm)) or a yes/no field (like Show legend) can also take its value from a saved value, each one has a companion “from variable” field:

  • If you leave it empty, the value typed in the normal field is used.
  • If you fill it in with the name of a saved value, the engine ignores the normal field and uses that variable’s value.

  This is mainly for chaining instructions (one instruction saves a value, the next one reads it). If you only work with fixed values, you can ignore these fields.

• Change Chart Type .pptx
• Configure Legend .pptx
• Delete Chart .pptx
• Insert Chart .pptx
• Set Chart Data .pptx
• Set Chart Title .pptx
• Set Series Colors .pptx

Change Chart Type .pptx

Converts an existing chart to a different type — bar, column, line, or pie — keeping its data.

When to use it: to switch, for example, a bar chart into a line chart without re-entering the data.

Parameter	Meaning	Default	Required
Document	Document the instruction applies to	(current document)	No
Slide number	Slide the chart is on (starts at 1)	1	No
Chart name	Name of the charts to convert; empty = all charts on the slide. Supports @name	Chart1	No
New chart type	bar, column, line, or pie	line	No
Slide number (from variable)	Reads the slide number from a saved value	(empty)	No

Important behavior: if no chart with that name is found, nothing happens. The existing series are preserved; converting to pie keeps only the first series. An unrecognized type is treated as column.

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Configure Legend .pptx

Shows or hides the chart’s legend and chooses where it is placed.

When to use it: to display a legend (and put it on a chosen side) or to remove it entirely.

Parameter	Meaning	Default	Required
Document	Document the instruction applies to	(current document)	No
Slide number	Slide the chart is on (starts at 1)	1	No
Chart name	Name of the charts to edit; empty = all charts on the slide. Supports @name	Chart1	No
Show legend	Yes shows the legend, No removes it	Yes (show)	No
Position	Where to place the legend: bottom, top, left, right, or tr (top-right)	bottom	No
Slide number (from variable)	Reads the slide number from a saved value	(empty)	No
Show legend (from variable)	Reads the yes/no value from a saved value	(empty)	No

Important behavior: if no chart with that name is found, nothing happens. When Show legend is No, the legend is removed and Position is ignored. An unrecognized position falls back to bottom.

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Delete Chart .pptx

Removes a chart from a slide, together with its data.

When to use it: to rebuild a chart from scratch, or to drop one that no longer belongs in the presentation.

Parameter	Meaning	Default	Required
Document	Document the instruction applies to	(current document)	No
Slide number	Slide to act on, counting from 1	1	No
Chart name	Name of the chart to remove. Supports @name	(empty)	Yes
Slide number (from variable)	Reads the slide from a saved value	(empty)	No
Save count key	Name to save how many were removed under	(empty)	No

Important behavior: the name is required; with it empty the instruction does nothing. An object with that name that is not a chart (a table, for instance) is not touched.

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Insert Chart .pptx

Inserts a new chart on a slide, built from series, categories, and values that you provide.

When to use it: to add a bar, column, line, or pie chart to a slide directly from the workflow.

Parameter	Meaning	Default	Required
Document	Document the instruction applies to	(current document)	No
Slide number	Slide to add the chart to (starts at 1)	1	No
Chart name	Name given to the chart, used to refer to it later. Supports @name	Chart1	No
Chart type	bar (horizontal), column (vertical), line, or pie	bar	No
Series names	Comma-separated series names. Supports @name	Serie 1	No
Categories	Comma-separated category labels (for example Jan,Feb,Mar). Supports @name	Cat 1,Cat 2,Cat 3	No
Values	Comma-separated numbers, listed series by series. Supports @name	10,20,30	No
Left position (cm)	Distance from the left edge of the slide	2	No
Top position (cm)	Distance from the top edge of the slide	4	No
Width (cm)	Chart width in centimeters	18	No
Height (cm)	Chart height in centimeters	12	No
Language	Language tag used for the chart’s text (for example es-ES, en-US). Supports @name	es-ES	No
Slide number (from variable)	Reads the slide number from a saved value	(empty)	No
Left position (from variable)	Reads the left position from a saved value	(empty)	No
Top position (from variable)	Reads the top position from a saved value	(empty)	No
Width (from variable)	Reads the width from a saved value	(empty)	No
Height (from variable)	Reads the height from a saved value	(empty)	No
Save chart name in	Name under which to save the new chart’s name	(empty)	No

Important behavior: the chart is created without a title — add one with Set Chart Title. A legend is added at the bottom by default. Values are matched to categories series by series; a value that is not a number counts as 0, and a pie chart uses only the first series. An unrecognized chart type is treated as column.

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Set Chart Data .pptx

Replaces the data (series, categories, and values) of an existing chart, keeping its type.

When to use it: to refresh a chart’s numbers without deleting and re-creating it.

Parameter	Meaning	Default	Required
Document	Document the instruction applies to	(current document)	No
Slide number	Slide the chart is on (starts at 1)	1	No
Chart name	Name of the charts to update; empty = all charts on the slide. Supports @name	Chart1	No
Series names	Comma-separated series names. Supports @name	Serie 1	No
Categories	Comma-separated category labels. Supports @name	Cat 1,Cat 2,Cat 3	No
Values	Comma-separated numbers, listed series by series. Supports @name	10,20,30	No
Slide number (from variable)	Reads the slide number from a saved value	(empty)	No

Important behavior: if no chart with that name is found, nothing happens. The new data replaces the old; the chart type stays the same, and a pie chart keeps only the first series. A value that is not a number counts as 0. If Series names or Categories is empty the instruction does nothing and the chart keeps the data it already had (an empty field never wipes a chart).

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Set Chart Title .pptx

Sets (or replaces) the title shown above a chart.

When to use it: to give a chart a heading such as “Quarterly sales”.

Parameter	Meaning	Default	Required
Document	Document the instruction applies to	(current document)	No
Slide number	Slide the chart is on (starts at 1)	1	No
Chart name	Name of the charts to title; empty = all charts on the slide. Supports @name	Chart1	No
Title text	The title to show. Supports @name	(empty)	No
Language	Language tag used for the title text (for example es-ES, en-US). Supports @name	es-ES	No
Slide number (from variable)	Reads the slide number from a saved value	(empty)	No

Important behavior: if no chart with that name is found, nothing happens. Any existing title is replaced by the new one. If Title text is empty the instruction does nothing: it neither adds an empty title nor removes the one already there.

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Set Series Colors .pptx

Sets the colors of a chart’s data series (or, for a pie chart, its slices).

When to use it: to match a chart’s colors to your brand or theme.

Parameter	Meaning	Default	Required
Document	Document the instruction applies to	(current document)	No
Slide number	Slide the chart is on (starts at 1)	1	No
Chart name	Name of the charts to color; empty = all charts on the slide. Supports @name	Chart1	No
Colors	Comma-separated hex color codes (for example 4472C4,ED7D31,A9D18E). Supports @name	4472C4,ED7D31,A9D18E	No
Slide number (from variable)	Reads the slide number from a saved value	(empty)	No

Important behavior: if no chart with that name is found, nothing happens. If the color list is left empty, nothing happens either. Colors are assigned in order — the first color to the first series, and so on — and cycle if there are fewer colors than series. For a pie chart the colors are applied to the individual slices instead. Colors may be written with or without a leading #.

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