Excel Charts

Or you can create a chart from the Insert menu by first selecting Object, then Microsoft Graph 97 Chart. When you run this add-on program, it opens with a sample chart and a mini data entry spreadsheet, which allows you to enter the data as you're creating the chart, rather than having to create the spreadsheet first, then select the data to chart.

In addition, when you create a chart this way, Microsoft Graph opens a toolbar that's helpful for several chart formatting functions (shown at the bottom of the illustration). If you use the Chart Wizard to create your charts, it will not display a chart toolbar. You can click on View, then Toolbars and select Chart to display a limited chart toolbar if you use the Chart Wizard.

Chart Placement

You can place a chart in an active worksheet so that it's visible on the same worksheet with the data it illustrates, or you can create a separate chart sheet. When you create a chart using the Chart Wizard, you will be asked where you'd like the chart to be located.

If you create a chart using the Chart toolbar, the chart will be located in the active worksheet initially. To move it to a separate sheet, select Location... from the Chart menu and click next to your choice of location.

If you select As a new sheet:, enter a name for the sheet. If your choice is As object in: use the dropdown list to select the sheet where you want the chart to be located.

Using the Chart Wizard

Select the data that you want to chart, then click on the Chart Wizard button in the Standard Toolbar to open the dialog box shown at the right.

The Chart Wizard will walk you through the process of creating a chart. click on the Next > button when you've completed each step. After the first screen, the < Back button will be active, so you can return to a previous screen to review your choices or change them.

1. In the first screen, select the type of chart to create. Select a type in the left pane, then select a sub-type from the right side of the dialog box. If you're viewing Standard Types, use the Press and hold to view sample button to see what your data will look like in the selected chart type.

   The Custom Types tab shows several additional chart types. When you click once on a type in this window, you'll see a preview of the chart using your data. When you've selected a chart type, click on the Next button.
    

2. In the second step, Excel asks for the data range you want to chart. It may put a moving outline around the range. You can accept the program's choice if it's correct, or select the appropriate range yourself.
    
3. Enter any titles you want to show on the chart: Chart title:, Category (X) axis; Value (Y) axis.
    
4. Select a chart location: As new sheet: or As object in: (see above for explanation).

The Chart Toolbar

Once your chart is displayed, you can edit it using the Chart toolbar.

Chart Objects: From the drop down list, select the chart object you want to edit.

Format (Plot) Area: The tool tip for this button will change depending on which Chart Object you have selected to edit. When you select a chart object, it will become the active chart object and the Format button will change to reflect the formatting choices for the selected object. For example, when you select Value Axis, your choices are:

• Value: set line width and style, tick mark type and placement
• Scale: select minimum and maximum values, units, etc.
• Font: change the font size and style
• Number: select a number format, e.g., number of decimal places, thousands separator, currency, accounting, etc. (this is the same number format function that you use in a worksheet).
• Alignment: select an angle for the text

If you select Plot Area from the Chart Objects list, the area containing the chart itself will be selected. Click on the Format button and you'll see that there is only one tab: Patterns. You can only format the background area behind the chart and add or customize the frame around the plot area.

Select the different objects and then experiment with the formatting options that are available for each one. This illustration shows the same chart seen further down on this page.

However, the columns (series) have been reformatted to overlap, the labels on the Value Axis and Category Axis have been angled (using the Alignment options Format), and the data table is displayed without the grid (select the Data Table object, then click the Format button and select a table gridline style - or unclick all of the boxes for no gridlines.

Change the type of chart, click on a new chart type to see immediately what your data would look like in - for example - a scatter chart or radar chart.

Legend: Toggles the legend on and off.

Data Table: Click on this button to toggle the data table display on and off. When it's turned off, the chart is larger and the table is not displayed. The illustration below shows the chart with the data table displayed.

By Row and By Column: In this example, the data are charted by row. In the original example, Div. 1, Div. 2, and Div. 3 are the row headings. The column headings are January, February, and March (at right).

If we change this chart to display by column, the labels on the X (Category) axis in the chart below (the column headings, actually) are Div.1, Div.2, and Div. 3 and the row labels in the data table are January, February, and March.

Experiment with this feature, but double check to make certain that the resulting chart clearly represents what you intended it to!

Angle Text Downward and Angle Text Upward: Use the last two buttons on the Chart toolbar to print the X and/or Y axis labels at an angle. It makes the labels a bit more difficult to read, but might be necessary when space is tight because there are a great many values shown and/or the values are very close together.

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