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» Getting Started with Microsoft Excel - Creating a Chart
Charts are visual representations of worksheet data. Various types of charts can be created in Excel, such as bar, line and pie charts. Charts can be used to clarify trends or relationships that might not be apparent in the worksheet data alone. Once a chart is created, as data on the worksheet is updated the chart automatically changes to reflect the updates.
To discuss charting data, let's consider the illustration above. We have a worksheet that contains data cells on the left and those same data cells charted on the right. To chart the data cell range L9:N14, do the following:
Excel creates the chart on the worksheet and displays the Chart Toolbar. To hide the Chart Toolbar, click anywhere on the worksheet outside the chart.
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» Getting Started with Microsoft Excel - Creating a Chart
Charts are visual representations of worksheet data. Various types of charts can be created in Excel, such as bar, line and pie charts. Charts can be used to clarify trends or relationships that might not be apparent in the worksheet data alone. Once a chart is created, as data on the worksheet is updated the chart automatically changes to reflect the updates.
To discuss charting data, let's consider the illustration above. We have a worksheet that contains data cells on the left and those same data cells charted on the right. To chart the data cell range L9:N14, do the following:
- Select the range L9:N14 by clicking cell L9, holding the mouse button and
dragging down and to the right to cell N14.
- With the cell range highlighted, click the ChartWizard button on the toolbar above the worksheet. You will notice the cursor change to a crosshairs with a small chart.
- Position the cursor on the worksheet where you want to place the chart and click the mouse. The ChartWizard dialog box appears.
- You've already selected the range you want to chart, so click Next >.
- As the type of chart, select Line and click Next >.
- Select the angular line style with no data points as the format of the line chart and click Next >. Note that at any step you can click < Back and repeat previous steps.
- The ChartWizard displays a sample line chart using your data. However, there is one small problem. Notice the box that reads: Use First 0 columns for Category (X) Axis Labels. In our illustration, the first column (years) is the label for the X Axis, so you want to enter 1 in this box. To do so, you can either overwrite the 0 that is in the box or click the up arrow to cycle the counter to 1. After doing so, you will notice the chart change automatically to a better representation of the chart in the illustration above. Click Next >.
- The next step allows us to add a legend and define titles to the chart, as well as each axis. After specifying titles if you wish, click Finish.
Excel creates the chart on the worksheet and displays the Chart Toolbar. To hide the Chart Toolbar, click anywhere on the worksheet outside the chart.
Continue to next page >>
| Quick Tutorial Navigator » The Worksheet and Cells » Entering and Editing Data » Working with Formulas » Formatting the Worksheet » Creating a Chart » Printing the Worksheet » Saving the Worksheet » What Next?
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