How to Apply Chart Template Style Across Multiple PowerPoint Charts

When you create a chart in PowerPoint, you often spend time formatting it to match your corporate brand or presentation theme. Applying the same custom colors, fonts, and layout to every chart manually is slow and inconsistent. PowerPoint includes a chart template feature that saves your custom formatting as a reusable file. This article explains how to save a chart as a template and apply that template to multiple charts in the same presentation or across different files.

The chart template stores all formatting properties including fill colors, line styles, font settings, axis options, and data label positions. Using a chart template ensures every chart in your deck uses identical styling without repeating the formatting steps. You can apply the template to new charts you insert or to existing charts that already contain data.

This guide covers the complete process from saving a formatted chart as a template to applying it to multiple charts at once. You will also learn how to manage template files and what formatting elements the template does not store.

What a PowerPoint Chart Template Stores and What It Does Not

A chart template file uses the .crtx extension. PowerPoint creates this file when you right-click a formatted chart and choose Save as Template. The template stores every visual property you set on the chart including chart type, fill colors of data series, line widths and dash styles, axis scale and tick marks, gridline formatting, data label font and position, legend placement, chart title formatting, and plot area background.

The template does not store the underlying data. When you apply a template to a chart, the chart keeps its own data source. The template only replaces the visual appearance. This means you can use one template for charts that show different data sets while keeping the same look.

Prerequisites for using chart templates include having at least one fully formatted chart in your presentation. The chart must contain the formatting you want to reuse. You also need write access to the Templates folder on your computer so PowerPoint can save the .crtx file.

Steps to Save a Formatted Chart as a Template

Before you can apply a chart template to multiple charts, you must save the formatting of one chart as a template file. Follow these steps to create the template.

1. Select the formatted chart
   Click once on the chart that contains the formatting you want to save. The chart border appears with selection handles around it. Make sure the chart is selected and not just the chart area or a single element.
2. Right-click the chart border
   Right-click directly on the chart border, not on a data series or axis. A context menu appears.
3. Choose Save as Template
   From the context menu, select Save as Template. A Save Chart Template dialog opens. The default location is the Charts folder inside your Microsoft Templates directory.
4. Name the template file
   In the File name field, type a descriptive name such as CorporateBlueTemplate or SalesDeckChart. Do not change the .crtx extension. Click Save.

PowerPoint saves the template to the Charts folder. You can now apply this template to any other chart in the same presentation or in a different presentation.

How to Apply the Chart Template to a Single Chart

Applying a saved template to one chart takes only a few clicks. This method works for any chart that already exists in your presentation.

1. Select the target chart
   Click the chart you want to reformat. The Chart Design tab appears in the ribbon.
2. Open the Chart Design tab
   Click Chart Design on the ribbon. This tab contains the Change Chart Type button.
3. Click Change Chart Type
   In the Type group, click Change Chart Type. The Change Chart Type dialog opens.
4. Switch to the Templates folder
   At the top of the dialog, click the Templates folder. PowerPoint shows all saved .crtx files.
5. Select your template
   Click the template you saved earlier. A preview of the template styling appears on the right.
6. Click OK
   PowerPoint applies the template formatting to the selected chart. The chart data remains unchanged.

How to Apply the Chart Template to Multiple Charts at Once

Applying a template to multiple charts individually is still repetitive. You can speed up the process by selecting all charts that need the same formatting and applying the template in one operation. This method works only when all target charts exist on the same slide or across multiple slides that you can select simultaneously.

1. Select the first chart
   Click the first chart you want to reformat. Hold the Ctrl key on your keyboard.
2. Select additional charts
   While holding Ctrl, click each additional chart you want to reformat. You can select charts on the same slide or on different slides. PowerPoint highlights each selected chart with selection handles.
3. Open the Chart Design tab
   Release the Ctrl key. Click Chart Design on the ribbon. The Change Chart Type button is now available.
4. Click Change Chart Type
   Click Change Chart Type. The Change Chart Type dialog opens.
5. Select your template from the Templates folder
   Click the Templates folder, then click your saved template. Click OK.

PowerPoint applies the template to every selected chart simultaneously. All charts now share the same formatting. If the charts use different chart types such as a column chart and a line chart, the template changes each chart to the chart type saved in the template. To keep the original chart type, save a template that uses the same chart type as your target charts.

How to Apply a Chart Template Across Multiple Presentations

When you need the same chart style in different presentation files, you do not need to recreate the template in each file. The saved .crtx file remains available to any PowerPoint presentation on the same computer. Follow these steps to use the template in another presentation.

1. Open the target presentation
   Open the PowerPoint file where you want to apply the template.
2. Insert or select a chart
   Insert a new chart or select an existing chart that you want to reformat.
3. Open the Change Chart Type dialog
   With the chart selected, click Chart Design > Change Chart Type.
4. Navigate to the Templates folder
   Click Templates. Your saved template appears in the list. Select it and click OK.

The template applies to the chart in the new presentation. If you need the template on another computer, copy the .crtx file from the Charts folder on the source computer to the same folder on the destination computer. The Charts folder is located at %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Templates\Charts.

Common Issues When Applying Chart Templates

Template does not appear in the Templates folder

If you save a template but it does not show in the Change Chart Type dialog, PowerPoint may have saved it to the wrong location. Open File Explorer and paste %APPDATA%\Microsoft\Templates\Charts into the address bar. If your .crtx file is not there, move it to this folder. Restart PowerPoint and check again.

Template changes the chart type unexpectedly

The template stores the chart type of the original chart. If you save a template from a stacked bar chart and apply it to a pie chart, the pie chart becomes a stacked bar chart. To avoid this, save a template from a chart that uses the same chart type as your target charts. Alternatively, create separate templates for each chart type you use.

Template does not apply all formatting

Some formatting elements are not stored in the template. These include chart data, data source range, chart size and position on the slide, and slide-level theme overrides. If your chart uses custom shape fills that come from the slide theme, those fills may not transfer. Apply the template, then manually adjust any remaining elements.

Chart Template vs Manual Formatting: Key Differences

Item	Chart Template (.crtx)	Manual Formatting
Time to apply to 10 charts	2 minutes	30 minutes or more
Consistency across charts	Guaranteed identical styling	Prone to human error
Reusability across presentations	Works in any file on the same computer	Must be redone per file
Stores chart type	Yes, including subtype	No, chart type stays as set
Stores data	No	No

You can now save a formatted chart as a template and apply that template to multiple charts in the same presentation or across different files. Using the Ctrl-click selection method lets you reformat several charts at once. For consistent branding across an entire organization, share the .crtx file with colleagues by placing it in the Charts folder on each computer. Consider creating separate templates for column charts, line charts, and pie charts to preserve the correct chart type when applying the template.