In: Categories » » Microsoft office » Excel 2007. Understanding the Parts of a Chart
Charting and Analyzing Data
If you stare at an Excel spreadsheet long enough, you may ask yourself, “What do these numbers really mean?” To help you analyze and understand what rows and columns of numbers might mean, Excel offers the ability to convert your data into a variety of charts such as pie charts, bar charts, and line charts. By letting you visualize your data, Excel helps you quickly understand what your data means so you can spot trends and patterns.
Understanding the Parts of a Chart
To create charts that clarify your data (rather than confuse you even more), you need to understand the parts of a chart and their purpose:
Data Series: The numeric data that Excel uses to create the chart
X-axis: Defines the width of a chart
Y-axis: Defines the height of a chart
Legend: Provides text to explain what each visual part of a chart means
Chart Title: Explains the purpose of the entire chart
Charts typically use two data series to create a chart. For example, one data series may be sales made that month, while a second data series may be the names of each salesperson. The X-axis of such a chart would list the names of each salesperson while the Y-axis would list a range of numbers that represent dollar amounts. The chart itself could display different colors that represent different products sold, and the legend would explain what each color represents (such as red measuring life insurance policies sold, green measuring auto insurance policies sold, and yellow measuring health insurance policies sold). By glancing at the column chart, you can quickly identify Total sales contributed by each salesperson every month Which salesperson is selling the most (and which is selling the least) Whether a particular salesperson is improving (or getting worse) at selling All this data came from the spreadsheet. Looking at the numbers in this spreadsheet, trying to identify the above information is nearly impossible. However, with the aid of a chart, identifying this type of information is so simple even your boss could do it. Some of the other types of charts Excel can create include
Column chart: Displays quantities as vertical columns that “grow” upward. Useful for creating charts that compare two items, such as sales per month or sales per salesperson.
Line chart: Displays quantities as lines. Essentially shows the tops of a column chart.
Area chart: Identical to a line chart except that it shades the area underneath each line.
Bar chart: Essentially a column chart turned on its side where bars “grow” from left to right.
Pie chart: Compares multiple items in relation to a whole, such as which product sales make up a percentage of a company’s overall profits.
Excel can create both two and three-dimensional charts. A 3-D chart can look neat, but sometimes the 3-D visual can obscure the true purpose of the chart, which is to simplify data and make it easy for you to understand in the first place.
Creating a Chart
Before you create a chart, you need to type in some numbers and identifying labels because Excel will use those labels to identify the parts of your chart. (You can always edit your chart later if you don’t want Excel to display certain labels or numbers.) To create a chart, follow these steps:
1. Select the numbers and labels that you want to use to create a chart.
2. Click the Insert tab.
3. Click a Chart icon, such as the Pie or Line icon.
4. Click a chart type.
Editing a Chart
After you create a chart, you may want to edit it. Editing a chart can mean moving it to a new location, changing the data source (the numbers that Excel uses to create the chart), modifying parts of the chart itself (such as switching to a different chart type), or editing text (such as the chart title or legend).
Moving a chart on a worksheet
When you create a chart, Excel plops it right on your displayed spreadsheet, which may not be exactly where you want it to appear. Excel gives you the option of moving a chart to a different place on the current worksheet page or on a different worksheet page altogether. To move a chart to a different location on the same worksheet, follow these steps:
1. Move the mouse pointer over the border of the chart until the mouse pointer turns into a four-way pointing arrow.
2. Hold down the left mouse button and drag (move) the mouse. The chart moves with the mouse.
3. Move the chart where you want it to appear and release the left mouse button.
Moving a chart to a new sheet
Rather than move a chart on the same sheet where it appears, you can also move the chart to another worksheet. That way your data can appear on one worksheet, and your chart can appear on another. To move a chart to an entirely different sheet, follow these steps:
1. Click the chart you want to move to another worksheet. The Chart Tools tab appears.
2. Click the Design contextual tools tab.
3. Click the Move Chart icon in the Location group. As an alternative to Steps 1–3, you can right-click a chart; then, when the pop-up menu appears, choose Move Chart.
4. Select one of the following radio buttons:
• New Sheet: Creates a new worksheet and lets you name it
• Object In: Lets you choose the name of an existing worksheet
5. Click OK. Excel moves your chart.
Resizing a chart
You can always resize any chart to make it bigger or smaller. To resize a chart, follow these steps:
1. Move the mouse pointer over any corner of the chart until the mouse pointer turns into a two-way pointing arrow.
2. Hold down the left mouse button and drag (move) the mouse to shrink or expand your chart.
3. Release the left mouse button when you’re happy with the new size of your chart.
Using the Chart Tools
As soon as you create a chart or click on an existing chart, Excel displays the Chart Tools tab, which provides tools organized into four categories:
Type: Lets you change the chart type
Data: Lets you change the source where the chart retrieves its data or switch the data from appearing along the X-axis to the Y-axis and vice versa
Chart Layouts: Lets you change the individual parts of a chart, such as the chart title, X- or Y-axis labels, or the placement of the chart legend (top, bottom, left, right)
Chart Styles: Provides different ways to change the appearance of your chart
Changing the chart type
After you create a chart, you can experiment with how your data may look when displayed as a different chart, such as switching your chart from a bar chart to a pie chart. To change chart types, follow these steps:
1. Click the chart you want to change. The Chart Tools tab appears.
2. Click the Design contextual tools tab under the Chart Tools tab.
3. Click the Change Chart Type icon in the Type group.
4. Click a chart type, such as Pie or Column. The dialog box displays a list of chart designs in the right panel of the dialog box.
5. Click the chart design you want in the right panel.
6. Click OK. Excel displays your new chart. If you don’t like how your chart looks, just press Ctrl+Z to return your chart back to its original design.
Changing the data source
Another way to change the appearance of a chart is to change its data source (the cells that contain the actual data that the chart uses). To change a chart’s data source, follow these steps:
1. Click the chart you want to change. The Chart Tools tab appears.
2. Click the Design contextual tools tab under the Chart Tools tab.
3. Click the Select Data icon in the Data group.
4. (Optional) Click the Shrink Dialog Box icon to shrink the Change Data Source dialog box so you can see more of your spreadsheet.
5. Select all the cells that contain data to create a chart, including any cells that contain labels, numbers, and formulas.
6. Click OK. Excel displays your chart using the data you specify in Step 5.
Switching rows and columns
When Excel creates a chart, it displays your data’s labels on the X- and Yaxes. However, you can switch these around, and Excel can show you how your chart may change. To switch the rows and columns used to create a chart, follow these steps:
1. Click the chart you want to change. The Chart Tools tab appears.
2. Click the Design contextual tools tab under the Chart Tools tab.
3. Click the Switch Row/Column icon in the Data group. Excel switches the X-axis data to appear on the Y-axis and vice versa.
Changing the parts of a chart
To make your charts more informative, you can add additional text, such as
A chart title A legend Data labels Axis labels Axes Gridlines
With each part of a chart, Excel can either hide it completely or move it to a different location. To modify any part of a chart, follow these steps:
1. Click the chart you want to change. The Chart Tools tab appears.
2. Click the Layout contextual tools tab under the Chart Tools tab.
3. Click the icon that identifies the part of the chart you want to modify, such as Chart Title or Axis Titles. A menu of different options appears.
4. Click an option, such as None. Excel shows your modified chart.
Designing the layout of a chart
Although you could add and modify the individual parts of a chart yourself, such as the location of the chart title or legend, you may find it faster to choose a predefined layout for your chart. To choose a predefined chart layout, follow these steps:
1. Click the chart you want to modify. The Chart Tools tab appears.
2. Click the Design contextual tools tab under the Chart Tools tab.
3. Click the More button in the Chart Layouts group.
4. Click a chart layout. Excel changes your chart.
Deleting a chart
Charts may be nice to look at, but eventually you may want to delete them. To delete a chart, follow these steps:
1. Click the chart you want to delete.
2. Press Delete. You can also right-click a chart; then, when the pop-up menu appears, choose Cut. Organizing Lists in Pivot Tables Ordinary spreadsheets let you compare two sets of data such as sales versus time or products sold versus the salesperson who sold them. Unfortunately, if you want to know how many products each salesperson not be easy. That’s where pivot tables come in. A pivot table lets you yank data from your spreadsheet and organize it in different ways in a table. By rearranging (or “pivoting”) your data from a row to a column (and vice versa), pivot tables can help you spot trends that may not be easily identified trapped within the confines of an ordinary spreadsheet.
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