The Chart Layout Panels

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> In the previous part of this lesson on charts, you saw how to format a chart with various dialogue boxes.</div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <br /></div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> You can also format your charts using the menu items on the Excel Ribbon bar, at the top of the screen. With your chart selected, click the <b>Layout</b> menu (Not Excel 2013. See below for your Layout options). You should see this:</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="Left side of the Layout panels" height="109" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/chartLayoutPanel1.gif" width="540" /></div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="Right side of the Layout panels" height="88" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/chartLayoutPanel2.gif" width="372" /></div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The Layout menu is a bit big for this page, so we've split it in two. But the chart Layout panel is split into a number of different sections (six in our version), and allows you to change the information in the chart.</div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> For Excel 2013 users, your Layout options are on the Design tab still, on the far left, just under the File menu:</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="Chart Layout options in Excel 2013" height="164" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/2013/section2/chart_elements.gif" width="199" /></div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Click Add Chart Element to see th efollowing drop down list:</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="Chart Layout list in Excel 2013" height="337" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/2013/section2/chart_elements_list.gif" width="134" /></div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> For all versions of Excel, The first thing you may want to do is to give your chart a name.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> To change the name of your chart in Excel versions 2007 and 2010, locate the<b>Properties</b> panel on the Layout menu:</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="The Properties panel" height="85" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/ChartName.gif" width="80" /></div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Highlight the default name in the textbox and type a new one:</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="Type a new Name for your chart" height="85" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/ChartName2.gif" width="80" /></div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> If you now click away from your chart, and then click back on it, you'll notice the name of the chart change:</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="The name of the chart has changed" border="1" height="46" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/ChartName3.gif" width="243" /></div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> For Excel 2013 users, locate the Name box just below Chart Layouts:</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="Change the name of a chart in Excel 2013" height="135" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/2013/section2/chart_elements_change_name.gif" width="115" /></div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Highlight the default Chart 1. Type a new name (BBC 1) and press enter:</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="Excel 2013 changed chart name" height="134" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/2013/section2/chart_elements_change_name2.gif" width="115" /></div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <br /></div> <h3 align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The Labels Panel in Excel 2007/2010</h3> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The <b>Labels</b> panel on the Layout menu lets you format the titles and legends on your chart. Here it is:</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="The Label Panel" height="85" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/ChartLabelPanel.gif" width="219" /></div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Or this for Excel 2013 users:</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="Chart Layout list in Excel 2013" height="337" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/2013/section2/chart_elements_list.gif" width="134" /></div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The first one is <b>Chart Title</b>. Click the arrow to see the options:</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="The Chart Title Menu" height="229" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/ChartLabelPanelTitle.gif" width="200" /></div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="Chart Title options, Excel 2013" height="268" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/2013/section2/chart_title_menu.gif" width="298" /></div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Click each item on the menu in turn to see what they do. Then click <b>More Title Options</b>. The following dialogue box will appear (Excel 2010 has more options. Excel 2013 users, see below for your options.):</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="Format Chart Title in Excel 2007" height="273" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/ChartLabelPanelDB.gif" width="374" /></div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> As you can see, there are options to change the Fill, Line, Line Style, Shadow, 3-D format, and Alignment. Play around with the options on the dialogue box to see what they do. The only thing you're changing here is the Chart Tile. Click Close when you're done. If you don't like what you see, click the undo arrow at the top of Excel.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <br /></div> <h3 style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Formatting Chart Titles in Excel 2013</h3> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Excel 2013 users won't see a dialogue box. Instead, you'll see a panel appear on the right of the screen. This one:</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="Format Chart Title, Excel 2013" height="172" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/2013/section2/format_chart_title_1.gif" width="269" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Click an arrow to see further options. Here are the options for Fill:</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="Chart Fill option, Excel 2013" height="364" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/2013/section2/format_chart_title_2.gif" width="275" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> You can also click the icons at the top. There are three of them: a paint bucket, an Hexagon, and a resize symbol.</div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Click the Hexagon and you'll see these options:</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="Chart Title icons, Excel 2013" height="220" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/2013/section2/format_chart_title_3.gif" width="272" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Click the Rezise symbol and the options will change to these:</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="Resize a chart, Excel 2013" height="446" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/2013/section2/format_chart_title_4.gif" width="269" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> As well as the three symbols, you can click the Text Options, you to the right of Title Options at the top. You'll then see even more options, this time to change the text itself:</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="Chart title Text Options, Excel 2013" height="365" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/2013/section2/format_chart_title_5.gif" width="270" /></div> <div style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Play around with all and see how they work.</div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <br /></div> <h3 align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Change the Axis Title in Excel 2007/2010</h3> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The next item on the <b>Labels</b> panel is the <b>Axis Title</b>. Click the down arrow to see the options:</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="Axis Titles" height="114" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/ChartLabelPanelAxis.gif" width="200" /></div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> At the moment, our chart has no Axis Title. It just has numbers running across the bottom. Someone looking at the chart won't know what the numbers represent. Here's what our Chart looks like at the moment:</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="Our Chart" height="302" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/ChartBar.gif" width="494" /></div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> To add an Axis title in Excel 2007 and 2010, click on <b>Primary Horizontal Axis Title</b>. From the sub menu, click <b>Title Below Axis</b>.</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="Title Below Axis" height="184" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/ChartLabelPanelAxis2.gif" width="465" /></div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> In Excel 2013, select <b>Primary Horizontal</b> on the <b>Axis Titles</b> menu of <b>Add Chart Elements</b>:</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="Axis titles, Excel 2013" height="337" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/2013/section2/axis_title.gif" width="322" /></div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> When you click <b>Title Below Axis</b> or <b>Primary Horizontal</b>, a new title will be added to the chart:</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="A New Axis Title added" border="1" height="42" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/ChartLabelPanelAxis3.gif" width="314" /></div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Highlight the default text, and type your own:</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="Highlight the text" border="1" height="40" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/ChartLabelPanelAxis4.gif" width="88" /></div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Click away from the chart to see what it looks like:</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="Our New Axis Title" border="1" height="36" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/ChartLabelPanelAxis5.gif" width="311" /></div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> We now have some explanation for what the numbers represent. You can add a Vertical Axis, as well. Click on <b>Primary Vertical Axis</b> Title and see how it works.</div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <br /></div> <h3 align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Chart Legend</h3> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The Chart's Legend is this one:</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="The Chart Legend " border="1" height="24" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/ChartLegend.gif" width="55" /></div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> At the moment, our Legend is on the right of the chart. But you can move this. Click the<b>Legend</b> item on the <b>Layout</b> panel to see the various options:</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="The various Legend options" height="409" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/ChartLegend2.gif" width="191" /></div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="Axis legend, Excel 2013" height="420" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/2013/section2/chart_legend.gif" width="314" /></div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Click an option on the menu and watch what happens to your Legend. You should see it move around your chart.</div> <h3 align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Adding Data Labels to an Excel Chart</h3> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> A Data Label is information overlaid on the chart bars. In our chart below, we have numbers overlaid on the orange bars:</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="Data Labels are on the bars in this chart" border="1" height="205" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/ChartDataLabels.gif" width="285" /></div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> You can format these Data Labels. Click the <b>Data Labels</b> item on the <b>Labels</b> panel to see the following options:</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="The Data Labels options" height="319" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/ChartDataLabels2.gif" width="223" /></div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="Data labels, Excel 2013" height="368" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/2013/section2/chart_data_labels.gif" width="330" /></div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The one wat we have at the moment is <b>Inside Edge</b>. Click on <b>Outside End</b> and your Data Labels will look like this:</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="Data Labels - Outside End" border="1" height="206" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/ChartDataLabels3.gif" width="259" /></div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> You can also see the options if you click <b>More Data Label Options</b> from the menu. You'll then see this dialogue box (In Excel 2013, again, you won't see a dialogue box. Instead, you'll see the Format panel appear on the right of your screen. The same options as below will be available, however.):</div> <div align="center" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <img alt="Format Data Labels" height="276" src="http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/excel2007/images/ChartDataLabelsFormatDB.gif" width="388" /></div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> Again, play around with the options to see what they do. The first two, Label Options and Number, are the ones you'll probably use most often.</div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> <br /></div> <div align="left" style="background-color: white; font-family: Arial, Verdana, Geneva, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> In the next part, we'll take a look at the Format Chart panels in Excel . You can create some impresive looking charts very quickly on this panel!</div> </div>

The Chart Layout Panels

In the previous part of this lesson on charts, you saw how to format a chart with various dialogue boxes. You can also format your cha...

Read more »