Moving the Chart to a Separate Chart Sheet
Adding, Editing, and Removing a Chart Title
Adding, Editing, and Removing a Legend
Adding and Positioning Data Labels
Changing the Rotation of Chart Text
Changing the Font or Size of Chart Text
Applying Shape Styles and WordArt Styles
Adding Glow and Soft Edges to Chart Markers
Saving Templates to Make Chart Formats Reusable
IF you upgraded to Microsoft Excel 2010 from Excel 2007, you will find the charting tools and user interface little changed. On the other hand, if your previous experience was with Excel 2003 or a version prior to that, you will find much that’s new and valuable in Excel 2010. First, the new ribbon-based user interface lets you format and customize your charts with fewer mouse clicks and fewer dialog boxes. Second, the current version boasts vastly enhanced presentation capabilities. Now, more than ever, it’s easy to turn your spreadsheet numbers into gorgeous graphs. Moreover, because Excel 2010 shares its charting engine with other Microsoft Office system applications, transporting your charts to Microsoft Word 2010 and Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 documents is now simpler and more reliable.
In this chapter, we survey the tasks you can perform with charts by using the ribbon. Chapter 20, presents the new feature called sparklines, which allow you to depict data graphically within the confines of a single worksheet cell. In Chapter 21 you’ll explore some formatting options that take you beyond the ribbon to more traditional dialog boxes.
The first step in creating a chart is to select some data. If you’re plotting all the cells in a contiguous block of cells, you don’t have to select the entire block; select any cell within the block, and Excel knows what to do. If, on the other hand, you want to plot only certain rows and columns within the range, you need to select those rows and columns explicitly.
Under some conditions, it’s advantageous to set up your source data as a table (by selecting a cell within it and pressing Ctrl+T or Ctrl+L) before creating a chart from it:
If you plot data in a table and subsequently add new rows or columns to the table, Excel automatically incorporates those rows or columns into the chart.
If you want your chart to focus on particular rows of data within a large block, a table can make that process more convenient. When you convert a range to a table, Excel adds filter controls to each column in the range. You can use these controls to hide the rows in which you’re not currently interested. So, for example, you can set up a chart that plots the most recent month’s numbers in a table of time-related data or the rows that have the top 10 values in some column of interest. Note, however, that when you change or remove the filter, Excel adjusts the chart so that it plots the visible rows. To make a permanent plot of particular rows in a range, select those rows explicitly without filtering the range. (You can plot noncontiguous rows by holding down Ctrl while you select each one.)
If you want your source data and chart to have consistent or complementary formatting characteristics, you can achieve that more easily using table styles and chart styles.
For information about tables, see Chapter 22. For information about chart styles, see “Choosing a Chart Style” on page 674.