Formatting Charts

Problem

You've created a chart and would like to alter its appearance.

Solution

Adjust the formats for your chart using Excel's chart formatting capabilities.

Discussion

You can select any chart element, including the chart itself, by clicking on it with the mouse. Also, once a chart is selected, you can cycle through, selecting each element using the arrow keys. You can select and format the chart itself, the plot area, the axes, labels, data series, and the legend, as well as any other element that may appear in a chart.

The name of the currently selected chart element is displayed in the Name box to the left of the formula bar.

You can change the formatting of any chart element by selecting the element and pressing Ctrl-1 to open a format dialog box specific to the selected chart element. Or you can right-click on any element and select the Format option from the pop-up menu. Alternatively, you can use the various format tool buttons in Excel's main window to format various aspects of the chart element. Also, when a chart element is selected you can select Format from the main menu bar to access a context-specific format dialog box just as if you had pressed Ctrl-1.

Some of the most common format options available for chart elements include colors, line style and thickness, fill pattern (including gradients, patterns, textures, and pictures), and font styles. Specific chart elements, such as chart axes, have other options that allow you to format things such as axes scales, labels, position, and whether an axis is in linear or log scale. (See Recipe 4.4 for more information.)

The bottom line is that pretty much everything on a chart can be customized. Simply select it and press Ctrl-1 to see what options are available. The recipes throughout this chapter provide specific examples and tips for formatting charts.