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Excel October 1999 • Vol.5 Issue 10 |
 Chart Menu | ||
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Jump to first occurrence of: [CHART] [EXCEL] Chances are good you've probably seen a chart of some kind on the television, in the newspaper, or at work in the last week or so. That's because charts are great at conveying complicated or hard-to-decipher data in a graphical, user-friendly manner. In fact, if you've worked with Excel for a while, you may have even created a few charts of your own. There are, however, a multitude of tools you may not even know about that you can use to more effectively create charts in Excel. So come along as we guide you on a journey through Chart menu commands in Excel 2000.  Locating The Chart Menu. If you're scanning your menu bar for the Chart menu and can't spot it, you may be searching in vain. That's because this menu displays only after you've created and activated a chart. First, select the data you want to include in your chart and click the Chart Wizard button. (It looks like a chart.) Then, work through the pages in the Chart Wizard. Just make your choices on a page and click the Next button. When you finish determining the basic options for your chart, click the Finish button. Even though a spanking-new chart is always selected (indicated by the black selection handles), you may need to click an existing chart to select it. To deselect a chart, click in the worksheet. If you're observant, you'll notice the Chart menu displays on the menu bar whenever you select a chart, and it disappears when you do not have the chart selected. The exact options available on the Chart menu vary depending on the type of chart you have selected. For example, you can't add a trendline to a pie chart. Keeping that limitation in mind, let's look at the menu commands.
Chart Type. The first stop on the Chart menu is at Chart Type. When you choose this command, the Chart Type dialog box displays with a wonderful array of chart types, such as column and cylinder, displayed on the Standard Types tab. Before you start wildly clicking on the various types, stop and think about which one best conveys your data to your audience. For example, a pie chart illustrates how individual parts relate to the whole; a column chart best displays data changes over time. After you settle on a chart type, choose it from the Chart Type list, then click a variation of the chart in the Chart Sub-Type area. You can preview how your data will look using the selected type by holding down the mouse button while pointing to the Press And Hold To View Sample button. When you finish, click OK to apply the type to your chart. Changing defaults. Excel automatically creates a column chart each time you make a new chart. You can change the settings in Excel, however, so it creates the chart type you use most often. To do this, select the chart type (and subtype) you want as your new default in the Chart Type dialog box. Click the Set As Default Chart button, then choose Yes. Finally, if you've accidentally made a mess of your chart while trying to tweak it, you can quickly remove all formatting and reapply the default formatting for that chart type. To do this, display the Standard Types tab of the Chart Type dialog box, then check the Default Formatting box. Click OK.
Still not happy with the selection of chart types? Create a user-defined custom chart type, which can include any combination of formatting and chart type. Once developed, you can quickly apply the formatting in the custom chart to other charts instead of continually recreating the same look. To make a custom chart type, first format and select the chart you want to use as an example, then display the Custom Types tab of the Chart Type dialog box. Click the User-Defined radio button and then choose Add. In the Add Custom Chart Type dialog box, enter a chart name and description. When you finish, choose OK in all open dialog boxes. After you've created your custom chart type, you can use it to format other existing charts in a flash. Select the existing chart to which you want to apply the formatting before displaying the Custom Types tab of the Chart Type dialog box. Choose User-Defined, select your custom chart type on the list, and click OK. Source Data. The Source Data command lets you preview or change the range in the worksheet upon which your chart is based. This command is handy if you accidentally choose the wrong range for the data or just want to plug in some other numbers. To do this, choose the Source Data command to display the Source Data dialog box, then click the Data Range tab. To select a range, click the range button at the right end of the Data Range text box. Select the cells you want before clicking the range button again to redisplay the Source Data dialog box. You can also quickly flip your data so the data series is in columns instead of rows (or vice versa). Just click the Rows or Columns option button, then preview the result in the sample box. If you like the preview, click the OK button.
Chart Options. OK, so you've determined the basic layout, structure, and data source for your chart. Now it's time to tweak it with even more options. First, select the Chart Options command to display the Chart Options dialog box. Interestingly enough, the available options change depending on which type of chart you've selected. For example, a pie chart includes only three tabs of choices in the Chart Options dialog box; a column chart includes six. With this variation in mind, let's take a run-through of the options you'll find the most consistently, no matter which chart type you choose. All the chart types include a Titles tab where you can enter description text for your chart. For some charts, such as Column, Bar, and Line, you can enter titles for the axes, as well. To do this, click in the text box for the type of label you want. Enter your text and click OK. You can also use the Axes tab to display or hide an axis in all charts, except pie and doughnut. To suppress the display of the axes, uncheck the Value and Category boxes. The Gridlines tab allows you to add lines, either horizontal or vertical, so you can more easily read the chart. Again, gridlines are available to most charts except pie and doughnut. To add the gridlines, click the Gridlines tab, then check the boxes for the gridlines you want to display. Clear the boxes for the gridlines you don't want to show. All charts include options related to the legend. To display (or hide) the legend for a chart, check (or clear) the Show Legend box on the Legend tab. Additionally, you can change the placement of the legend, such as Bottom or Left, by clicking one of the radio buttons in the Placement section. The Chart Options dialog box also includes a Data Labels tab where you can quickly add data labels to all series on your chart. The exact labels available are determined by the chart type, but adding them is a snap. Click the radio button that represents the type of label you want. Finally, some charts include an option that lets you display the worksheet's underlying data in tabular form, right along with the chart. To add the table, check the Show Data Table box on the Data Table tab. Location. When you initially create a chart, it's placed as an embedded object within a worksheet or on a completely separate sheet. If you later change your mind, however, it's easy to modify the location of the chart. Select the chart, then choose the Location command. In the Chart Location dialog box, choose where you want your chart to display before clicking OK. Add Data. If you need to add data from another range, you'll find the Add Data command useful. Select the chart, then choose Add Data to display the Add Data dialog box. Enter the range where the new data is and then click OK. If Excel doesn't understand how you want to display the new data on your chart, a Paste Special dialog box will open. Choose how you want to add the copied data (as a data series or a data point), and whether the values displayed are in columns or rows. Click OK to apply the changes to your chart.
Add Trendline. You can graphically represent the direction, or trend, of your data for several types of charts, such as column, bubble and scatter charts. To do this, select your chart and then choose Add Trendline from the Chart menu. On the Type page, choose the style of trendline you want to add to your chart. Choose the data series on which the trendline should be based and then click OK. What to remove an existing trendline? Just click it in your selected chart and press DELETE. 3-D View. Finally, if you're using a 3-D chart, such as a 3-D pie chart, you can change several options related specifically to it, such as the height, depth, and rotation of the chart. To do this, select the chart and choose 3-D View. Increase or decrease the elevation of the chart in 5% increments by clicking the elevation buttons (they look like arrows). You can also modify the chart's rotation in 10% increments by clicking the left and right rotation buttons (these also look like arrows). To see the effects of your change without closing the dialog box, click Apply. When you're happy with your modifications, click OK.  by Linda Bird |
