Chart templates in Excel - Deep Dive

Overview - Chart templates

What is it?

Chart templates in Excel are saved chart formats that you can reuse to create new charts with the same style and settings. Instead of formatting each chart from scratch, you apply a template to quickly get consistent colors, fonts, and layouts. This helps save time and keeps your charts looking uniform across different sheets or workbooks.

Why it matters

Without chart templates, you would spend a lot of time manually styling each chart, which can lead to inconsistent visuals and errors. Chart templates solve this by letting you reuse your favorite chart designs easily. This makes your reports look professional and saves hours of repetitive work.

Where it fits

Before learning chart templates, you should know how to create and format basic charts in Excel. After mastering templates, you can explore advanced chart customization, dynamic charts, and dashboard design to present data effectively.

Mental Model

Core Idea

A chart template is like a reusable blueprint that applies your preferred chart style and settings instantly to new data.

Think of it like...

Using a chart template is like having a favorite cake recipe saved so you can bake the same delicious cake anytime without guessing the ingredients or steps again.

┌───────────────┐
│ Create Chart  │
└──────┬────────┘
       │ Save as Template
       ▼
┌───────────────┐
│ Chart Template│
└──────┬────────┘
       │ Apply Template
       ▼
┌───────────────┐
│ New Chart     │
│ (Styled Fast) │
└───────────────┘

Build-Up - 7 Steps

1

Foundation

Understanding Basic Charts

Concept: Learn what charts are and how to create a simple chart in Excel.

A chart is a visual way to show numbers. To make one, select your data, go to the Insert tab, and pick a chart type like Column or Line. Excel draws the chart for you with default colors and labels.

Result

You get a basic chart showing your data visually.

Knowing how to create a chart is the first step before you can save or reuse its style.

2

Foundation

Customizing Chart Appearance

Concept: Learn how to change colors, fonts, and layout of a chart.

Click on the chart, then use the Chart Tools tabs (Design and Format) to change colors, add titles, adjust axes, and more. You can make the chart look exactly how you want.

Result

Your chart now has a unique style that fits your report or presentation.

Customizing charts manually is useful but can be time-consuming if repeated often.

3

Intermediate

Saving a Chart as a Template

🤔Before reading on: do you think saving a chart template saves only colors or the entire chart style? Commit to your answer.

Concept: Learn how to save your customized chart as a template file for reuse.

Right-click your finished chart and choose 'Save as Template'. Excel saves a .crtx file with all your style settings like colors, fonts, and layout.

Result

You have a reusable chart template file stored on your computer.

Saving a template captures the full style, so you don't have to redo formatting each time.

4

Intermediate

Applying a Chart Template to New Data

🤔Before reading on: do you think applying a template changes the data or just the chart style? Commit to your answer.

Concept: Learn how to use a saved template to create a new chart with your preferred style.

Select your new data, go to Insert > Recommended Charts > All Charts tab > Templates, and pick your saved template. Excel creates a new chart with your style but new data.

Result

A new chart appears styled exactly like your saved template but showing new data.

Templates separate style from data, letting you quickly visualize different data sets with the same look.

5

Intermediate

Managing and Sharing Chart Templates

Concept: Learn where templates are stored and how to share them with others.

Chart templates are saved as .crtx files in a folder on your computer. You can copy these files to share with colleagues, who can then load them into their Excel.

Result

You and your team can use the same chart styles for consistent reports.

Knowing how to manage templates helps maintain style standards across multiple users.

6

Advanced

Editing and Updating Chart Templates

🤔Before reading on: do you think you can edit a saved template directly or must you create a new one? Commit to your answer.

Concept: Learn how to update a chart template when you want to change the style for future charts.

Open a chart using the template, make your style changes, then save it again as a template with the same name to overwrite. This updates the template file.

Result

Your template now reflects the new style and applies to future charts.

Templates are flexible and can evolve as your style preferences change.

7

Expert

Using Templates in Automated Reporting

🤔Before reading on: do you think chart templates can be used in Excel macros or automation? Commit to your answer.

Concept: Learn how professionals use chart templates in automated reports and dashboards.

In VBA macros or Power Query reports, you can apply chart templates programmatically to keep styling consistent without manual steps. This is common in large-scale reporting.

Result

Automated reports generate charts with consistent style, saving time and reducing errors.

Understanding templates in automation unlocks powerful, scalable reporting workflows.

Under the Hood

When you save a chart as a template, Excel records all the formatting details—colors, fonts, axis settings, legend placement, and more—into a .crtx file. This file acts like a style guide. When you apply the template, Excel reads this file and applies those settings to the new chart's structure and data, overriding default styles but keeping the data intact.

Why designed this way?

Excel separates chart data from style to allow flexibility. Saving styles as templates avoids repeating manual formatting and ensures consistency. The .crtx file format is lightweight and portable, making it easy to share and reuse across workbooks and users.

┌───────────────┐       ┌───────────────┐
│ Chart Data   │──────▶│ Chart Object  │
└───────────────┘       └──────┬────────┘
                                │
                                ▼
                       ┌─────────────────┐
                       │ Style Template  │
                       │ (.crtx file)    │
                       └─────────────────┘
                                │
                                ▼
                       ┌─────────────────┐
                       │ Formatted Chart │
                       └─────────────────┘

Myth Busters - 4 Common Misconceptions

Quick: Does applying a chart template change the data shown in the chart? Commit to yes or no.

Common Belief: Applying a chart template changes both the style and the data of the chart.

Reality: Applying a template only changes the chart's style and formatting, not the underlying data.

Why it matters: If you expect data to change, you might overwrite or misinterpret your charts, leading to wrong conclusions.

Quick: Can you edit a saved chart template file directly? Commit to yes or no.

Common Belief: You can open and edit a .crtx template file directly to change its style.

Reality: You cannot edit a template file directly; you must create a chart, modify its style, and save it again as a template.

Why it matters: Trying to edit the file directly wastes time and causes confusion about how templates update.

Quick: Are chart templates automatically shared with others when you share an Excel file? Commit to yes or no.

Common Belief: Chart templates are embedded in Excel files and automatically shared with anyone who opens the file.

Reality: Chart templates are saved as separate files and are not embedded in Excel workbooks; others need the template file to use it.

Why it matters: Assuming templates are shared can cause style inconsistencies and extra work for collaborators.

Quick: Do chart templates save the chart's data source? Commit to yes or no.

Common Belief: Chart templates save the data source along with the style so you can reuse the exact chart.

Reality: Templates save only the style and formatting, not the data source or values.

Why it matters: Expecting data to be saved can cause errors when applying templates to different data sets.

Expert Zone

1

Chart templates save many style details but do not capture every single customization, such as some manual shape edits or embedded images.

2

When applying a template, Excel tries to match chart types; applying a template to incompatible chart types may produce unexpected results.

3

Templates can be used in VBA macros by setting the Chart.ChartTemplate property, enabling automated styling in complex workflows.

When NOT to use

Chart templates are not ideal when you need highly customized charts with unique data-driven formatting or interactive elements. In such cases, manual formatting or specialized add-ins are better. Also, templates do not work well if the chart type changes drastically, so recreating charts might be necessary.

Production Patterns

Professionals use chart templates to enforce corporate branding in reports, ensuring all charts follow company colors and fonts. Templates are integrated into automated reporting systems via VBA or Power BI exports to maintain style consistency without manual intervention.

Connections

Styles and Themes in Word Processors

Chart templates are similar to document styles that apply consistent formatting across text.

Understanding how styles work in text editors helps grasp how chart templates separate content from appearance for efficiency.

Software Design Patterns - Template Method

Chart templates embody the idea of a reusable template that defines a fixed structure with customizable parts.

Recognizing this pattern shows how templates promote reuse and consistency in both software and spreadsheets.

Industrial Manufacturing - Molds and Templates

Just like molds shape many identical products, chart templates shape many charts with the same style.

Seeing chart templates as molds clarifies why they save time and ensure uniform quality in production.

Common Pitfalls

#1 Trying to apply a chart template to a chart type it was not designed for.

Wrong approach:

Select data, insert a Pie chart, then apply a Column chart template.

Correct approach:

Apply the template only to charts of the same or compatible type as the template was created from.

Root cause:

Misunderstanding that templates are tied to chart types and expecting them to work universally.

#2 Assuming chart templates are saved inside the Excel workbook automatically.

Wrong approach:

Save a workbook with a chart template and send it to a colleague expecting the template to be included.

Correct approach:

Share the .crtx template file separately along with the workbook for others to use the template.

Root cause:

Confusing workbook content with external template files.

#3 Editing the .crtx file directly to change the chart style.

Wrong approach:

Open the .crtx file in a text editor or Excel and try to change colors or fonts.

Correct approach:

Open a chart, modify its style, then save it again as a template to update the .crtx file.

Root cause:

Not knowing that templates are saved snapshots of chart formatting, not editable files.

Key Takeaways

Chart templates save your chart's style and formatting so you can reuse it quickly on new data.

Templates separate the look of a chart from its data, allowing consistent visuals without changing the numbers.

You must save and share template files separately; they are not embedded in Excel workbooks.

Applying templates only works well with compatible chart types and does not change the data source.

Advanced users leverage templates in automation to produce professional, consistent reports efficiently.