empower charts 8.6

General improvements

1. The performance of Gantt charts has been improved very significantly; besides the new performance mode used by default, a compatibility mode is also available for certain use cases.
2. In addition to German and English empower charts now offers its user interface in the following languages (machine translated): Spanish, French, Italian, Japanese, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian and Chinese (simplified).
3. Data charts (outside of placeholders) can now be grouped with other data charts or PowerPoint objects.
4. The change of the manufacturer's name from "Made in Office GmbH" to "empower GmbH" has been fully implemented in the software.
5. For personal use and test use cases, a personal edition of empower charts was developed, which is associated with functional limitations.

New functions in data charts

1. The axis direction (value axis) of data charts can now be reversed. This means that, for example, column charts can also be displayed from top to bottom or bar charts from right to left.
2. Bubble and scatter charts have a new Excel data structure, which makes it much easier to combine several objects into a group / series.
3. Data labels can now be configured more flexibly. Furthermore, the percentage calculation can be changed. It is now possible to define 100% by referring to another (also hidden) series.
4. The logic for data label backgrounds has been optimized. These are no longer semi-transparent and always switched on if the label is in the data point. I.e. they are only visible if the data point is smaller than the label or if hatching is used. This makes the data labels more readable.
5. Mekko charts created with think-cell¹ software can now be converted.
6. Small improvements and bug fixes.

New functions in Gantt Charts

1. A Gantt chart now also has a mini-Excel which can be used to edit its structure and content.
2. A Gantt chart can be linked to an external Excel file that specifies its structure and content.
3. The data storage of a Gantt chart can now be larger than its display area. If the Gantt period is reduced, elements are thus no longer visible. However if the period is enlarged again, the hidden elements will reappear.
4. Minor improvements and bug fixes.

Known limitations

1. Due to new functions, charts created or edited with empower charts 8.6 can no longer be edited with older empower charts versions. On the other hand, it is of course possible to edit older charts with empower charts 8.6 (including new functions).
2. Microsoft's Extended Support for Office 2010 was terminated on October 13, 2020. Office 2010 is still supported for empower charts with restrictions. Currently we are aware of the following problems with Office 2010:
   1. The functionality around date axes does not work under Office 2010 (due to a bug in Office 2010 which is no longer fixed by Microsoft).
   2. Mekko charts are not supported under Office 2010.

¹ think-cell ® is a registered trademark of think-cell Software GmbH