CHAPTER

Getting Started

Making Charts

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Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics

Figure 18.1 shows a worksheet that contains a simple column chart that depicts a company’s sales volume by month. Viewing the chart makes it very apparent that sales were down in the summer months (June through August), but they increased steadily during the final four months of the year. You could, of course, arrive at this same conclusion simply by studying the numbers. But viewing the chart makes the point much more quickly.

FIGURE 18.1

A simple column chart depicts the monthly sales volume.

A column chart is just one of many different types of charts that you can create with Excel. I discuss all chart types so you can make the right choice for your data later in this chapter.

Understanding How Excel Handles Charts

Before you can create a chart, you must have some numbers — sometimes known as data. The data, of course, is stored in the cells in a worksheet. Normally, the data that a chart uses resides in a single worksheet, but that’s not a strict requirement. A chart can use data that’s stored in a different worksheet or even in a different workbook.

A chart is essentially an object that Excel creates upon request. This object consists of one or more data series, displayed graphically. The appearance of the data series depends on the selected chart type. For example, if you create a line chart that uses two data series, the chart contains two lines, each representing one data series. The data for each series is stored in a separate row or column. Each point on the line is determined by the value in a single cell and is represented by a marker. You can distinguish each of the lines by its thickness, line style, color, or data markers (squares, circles, and so on).

Figure 18.2 shows a line chart that plots two data series across a 12-month period. I used different data markers (squares versus circles) to identify the two series, as shown in the legend at the bottom of the chart. The chart clearly shows the sales in the Eastern Region are declining steadily, while Western Region sales are relatively constant.

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A key point to keep in mind is that charts are dynamic. In other words, a chart series is linked to the data in your worksheet. If the data changes, the chart is updated automatically to reflect those changes.

After you create a chart, you can always change its type, change the formatting, add new data series to it, or change an existing data series so that it uses data in a different range.

FIGURE 18.2

This line chart displays two data series.

A chart is either embedded in a worksheet, or displayed on a separate chart sheet. It’s very easy to move an embedded chart to a chart sheet (and vice versa).

Embedded charts

An embedded chart basically floats on top of a worksheet, on the worksheet’s drawing layer. The charts shown previously in this chapter are both embedded charts.

As with other drawing objects (such as Shapes or SmartArt), you can move an embedded chart, resize it, change its proportions, adjust its borders, and perform other operations. Using embedded charts enables you to print the chart next to the data that it uses.

To make any changes to the actual chart in an embedded chart object, you must click it to activate the chart. When a chart is activated, Excel displays the Chart Tools context tab. The Ribbon provides many tools for working with charts.

With one exception, every chart starts out as an embedded chart. The exception is when you create a default chart by selecting the data and pressing F11. In that case, the chart is created on a chart sheet.

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Chart sheets

When a chart is on a chart sheet, you view it by clicking its sheet tab. Chart sheets and worksheets can be interspersed in a workbook.

To move an embedded chart to a chart sheet, click the chart to select it and then choose Chart Tools Design Location Move Chart. Excel displays the Move Chart dialog box, shown in Figure 18.3. Select the New Sheet option and provide a name for the chart sheet (or accept Excel’s default name). Click OK, and the chart is moved, and the new chart sheet is activated.

Tip

This operation also works in the opposite direction: You can select a chart on a chart sheet and relocate it to a worksheet as an embedded chart. In the Move Chart dialog box, choose Object In, and then select the worksheet from the drop-down list. n

FIGURE 18.3

The Move Chart dialog box lets you move a chart to a chart sheet.

When you place a chart on a chart sheet, the chart occupies the entire sheet. If you plan to print a chart on a page by itself, using a chart sheet is often your better choice. If you have many charts, you may want to put each one on a separate chart sheet to avoid cluttering your worksheet. This technique also makes locating a particular chart easier because you can change the names of the chart sheets’ tabs to provide a description of the chart that it contains.

The Excel Ribbon changes when a chart sheet is active, similar to the way it changes when you select an embedded chart.

Excel displays a chart in a chart sheet in WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) mode: The printed chart looks just like the image on the chart sheet. If the chart doesn’t fit in the window, you can use the scroll bars to scroll it or adjust the zoom factor. You also can change its orientation (tall or wide) by choosing Page Layout Page Setup Orientation.

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Parts of a Chart

Refer to the accompanying chart as you read the following description of the chart’s elements.

The particular chart is a combination chart that displays two data series: Calls and Sales. Calls are plotted as vertical columns, and the Sales are plotted as a line with square markers. Each column (or marker on the line) represents a single data point (the value in a cell). The chart data is stored in the range A1:C7.

It has a horizontal axis, known as the category axis. This axis represents the category for each data point (January, February, and so on).

It has two vertical axes, known as value axes, and each one has a different scale. The axis on the left is for the columns (Calls), and the axis on the right is for the line (Sales).

The value axes also display scale values. The axis on the left displays scale values from 0 to 1,400, in major unit increments of 200. The value axis on the right uses a different scale: 0 to 120, in increments of 20.

It also contains horizontal grid lines (which correspond to the left value axis). Grid lines are basically Noteextensions of the value axis scale, which makes it easier for the viewer to determine the magnitude of the dataA chartpointswith. two value axes is appropriate because the two data series vary dramatically in scale. If the

Sales data were plotted using the left axis, the line would barely be visible. n

All charts have a chart area (the entire background area of the chart) and a plot area. The plot area shows

the actual chart, and in this example, the plot area has a different background color.

Most charts provide some method of identifying the data series or data points. A legend, for example, is

often used to identify the various series in a chart. In this example, the legend appears on the bottom of Charts can have additional parts or fewer parts, depending on the chart type. For example, a pie chart has

the chart. Some charts also display data labels to identify specific data points. This chart displays data slices and no axes. A 3-D chart may have walls and a floor. You can also add many other types of items

labels for the Calls series, but not for the Sales series. In addition, most charts (including the example to a chart. For example, you can add a trend line or display error bars. In other words, after you create a

chart) contain a chart title and additional labels to identify the axes or categories. chart, you have a great deal of flexibility in customizing the chart.

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