Changing the Font or Size of Chart Text

Suppose Excel generates a chart with titles, legend, and axis labels all neatly styled in Gill Sans MT-but you'd prefer Goudy Old Style. You can look all over the charting component of the Excel user interface for a command to change the font, but you would look in vain. The Format tab, under Chart Tools, provides access to a fantastic array of fancy text-formatting options. But if all you want is a different font, you need to return to the worksheet component of the user interface. Every tool at your disposal for formatting worksheet text is available there for use with chart text. Select the text you want to modify, click Home on the Ribbon, and then head for the Font group.

With titles and legend text, you can format entire blocks, individual words, or even individual letters. If you need a subscript in your chart title, for example, select the character that needs to be lowered, click Home on the Ribbon, click the Format Cells: Font button (the small rectangle in the lower-right corner of the Font group to the right of the word Font), and then, on the Font tab of the Font dialog box, select the Subscript check box. With axis labels-the labels that appear adjacent to a chart axis-it's another story, alas. These you cannot select individually. You must format all the labels for a given axis the same way. If you absolutely require distinct formatting for particular axis labels, you'll need to suppress the normal label display and use text boxes instead.