Useful Tricks for MS Excel 2007
~ Formatting Bar Graphs - Pattern Fill
In previous versions of Excel, you could fill your bars with stripes, dots, hashes, etc. The functionality is still there, but they removed the interface. Here is a link that has an add-in which lets you add this back.
~ Colors - How to customize
Apparently, the default color selections in the 2007 have been selected to optimize visibility for the colorblind. However, many of us may need to use the old colors, or want to create our own palette.