MICROSOFT EXCEL 2010 Working with Charts
Introduction to charts WORKING WITH CHARTS Charts basically represent your data graphically. The data here refers to numbers. In Excel, you have various types of charts i.e. Column, Bar, Line, Pie, etc. Among the more popular type of charts are the Column, Line and Pie charts. The next example highlights the simple use of creating a pie chart quickly. 1. Assume you have the following set of data. 2. You will now learn to draw a pie chart using the Month and Amount headers. To do this, select the range of cells from A1 to A7. Press and hold the Ctrl key and drag to select the range of cells from C1 to C7 as follows. 3. To commence creating any sort of charts, ensure that the tab is selected. Point to the Pie icon in the Charts group as pointed to below. 1 Authored by: Palani Murugappan
MICROSOFT EXCEL 2010 4. Click on the Pie icon. Select the 2-D Pie first option as pointed to below. 5. A 2-D Pie chart is created almost immediately as illustrated. 6. You can change the appearance of the pie chart by scrolling through the Design list in the Chart Styles group. In the illustration below, the following Chart Style is selected. 2 Authored by: Palani Murugappan
WORKING WITH CHARTS 7. Based on the above selection, the 2-D Pie chart appears as follows. 8. To decrease the Chart Area window, click on the left border of the window and drag the double headed arrow inwards. This reduces the area size as follows. Note that only the area size is reduced, not the actual pie chart itself. 9. Click to select the Legend Entry as outlined below. 3 Authored by: Palani Murugappan
MICROSOFT EXCEL 2010 10. Click on the top (and bottom) middle border point and drag it upwards to stretch the height of the Legend Entry. 11. To position the Legend differently, click anywhere on the Chart Area to select it first. Click on the Chart Tools Layout tab as pointed to. 12. Click on the Legend icon in the Labels group. Select the Show Legend at Bottom option. 4 Authored by: Palani Murugappan
WORKING WITH CHARTS 13. Observe the Legend now. It is displayed below the chart as illustrated. 14. Click on the Data Labels icon in the Labels group. Select the Outside End option. 15. The Data Labels are positioned just outside the edge of each segment of the pie chart. 5 Authored by: Palani Murugappan
MICROSOFT EXCEL 2010 16. Click on the Chart Tools Format tab as pointed to below. 17. To change the text style of the pie chart, click on the Quick Styles icon in the WordArt Styles group. Select the Gradient Fill Purple, Accent 4 Reflection option as pointed to. 18. The text style appears as follows. 19. To enlarge the chart size, ensure that the Chart Tools Format tab is still selected. Click on the Shape Height and Shape Width increments or decrements in the Size group to alter the shape of the chart. 20. Note that by clicking on the increase or decrease arrows for the Height and Weight increases or decreases the height and width of the chart respectively. 6 Authored by: Palani Murugappan
WORKING WITH CHARTS 21. To give the chart a background fill, right click on the Chart Area. Select Format Chart Area from the shortcut menu displayed. 22. The Format Chart Area dialog box is displayed with the Automatic selection selected. 7 Authored by: Palani Murugappan
MICROSOFT EXCEL 2010 23. Click on the Picture or texture fill option. Upon selecting this option, a list of other details is displayed. 24. Click on the Texture drop down list and select the Papyrus option as pointed to below. 25. Click the button to close the Format Chart Area dialog box. 26. Observe the chart now. The selected Papyrus texture above is applied as the background. 8 Authored by: Palani Murugappan
WORKING WITH CHARTS 27. To change the chart title, click on it first to select its text box as follows. 28. Double click anywhere within the text to select it. 29. Type the text SIX MONTHS SALES FIGURES inside the chart title text box. 30. Based on the six months sales figures, February had the highest sales figures. To separate the February segment from the rest of the pie chart, click to select this segment (twice not double click!) first as illustrated. 9 Authored by: Palani Murugappan
MICROSOFT EXCEL 2010 31. Gently click and drag to separate the February segment away from the rest of the pie chart as below. 32. To change the font type and size of the Data Labels, click on any one of them. All of the Data Labels are selected as follows. 10 Authored by: Palani Murugappan
WORKING WITH CHARTS 33. Click on the tab. Change the Font type to Times New Roman; Font Size to 11; remove the Bold attribute; Font Color to black (i.e. Automatic). 34. The above changes are reflected in the chart as follows. 35. Click anywhere outside the pie chart (but within the working area of the chart) i.e. click on the Chart Area to select the entire chart (and the Legend). You shall now learn to change the chart type. 36. To change the chart type, ensure that the Chart Tools Design tab is selected as pointed to below. 37. Click on the Change Chart Type icon in the Type group as below. 38. The Change Chart Type dialog box is displayed. Click on the Column option as illustrated on the left pane of the dialog box. 11 Authored by: Palani Murugappan
MICROSOFT EXCEL 2010 39. Ensure that the Clustered Column option is selected. 40. Click the button. 41. The Pie chart is now converted to a Column chart as illustrated. 12 Authored by: Palani Murugappan
WORKING WITH CHARTS 42. Click on any of the Data Labels to select all of them as follows. 43. Press the Delete key to delete the Data Labels. 44. Click on the Vertical Value Axis. 13 Authored by: Palani Murugappan
MICROSOFT EXCEL 2010 45. Right click on the Vertical Value Axis. Select Format Axis from the shortcut menu displayed. 46. The Format Axis dialog box is displayed with the Axis Options selected. Click to select the Fixed option for the Maximum value as pointed to below. 47. Change the Maximum Fixed value to 800. 48. Click the Number option in the left pane. 14 Authored by: Palani Murugappan
WORKING WITH CHARTS 49. Reduce the Decimal places from 2 to 0. 50. Click the button to close the Format Axis dialog box. 51. The Vertical Value Axis values now ranges from 0 to 800 and displayed in 0 decimal place. 52. Note that the increment in the Vertical Value Axis is in multiples of 200. To change this jump of 200 down to 100, right click on the Vertical Value Axis once again. Select Format Axis from the shortcut menu. 53. The Format Axis dialog box is displayed. Ensure that the Axis Options category is selected on the left. Click to select the Fixed option in the Major unit. Type 100 in the text box provided as illustrated. 15 Authored by: Palani Murugappan
MICROSOFT EXCEL 2010 54. Click the button to close the Format Axis dialog box. 55. Note that the Vertical Value Axis is now in multiples of 100. 56. Click to select the Horizontal Category Axis. 57. Right click on it. Select Format Axis from the shortcut menu displayed. 16 Authored by: Palani Murugappan
WORKING WITH CHARTS 58. The Format Axis dialog box is opened. Select the Alignment option. 59. Click on the Text Direction drop down list and select the Rotate all text 270 0 option. 60. Click the button to close the Format Axis dialog box. 61. The Horizontal Category Axis values are displayed in the selected vertical format. 17 Authored by: Palani Murugappan
MICROSOFT EXCEL 2010 62. To change the color of the column bar for February, click on it twice (do this gently not double click!) to select it as follows. 63. Right click on the February column bar. Select Format Data Point from the shortcut menu displayed. 64. The Format Data Point dialog box is displayed. Select the Fill option. 65. Select the Solid fill option in the Fill section as pointed to. 18 Authored by: Palani Murugappan
WORKING WITH CHARTS 66. Click on the Color drop down list. Select a light shade of purple as illustrated. 67. Click the button to close the Format Data Point dialog box. 68. Observe the chart now. The selected February column is highlighted in the above selected purple color. 19 Authored by: Palani Murugappan
MICROSOFT EXCEL 2010 69. While the February column bar is still selected, click on the Chart Tools Format tab as pointed to below. 70. Click the Shape Outline icon. Select Weight followed by 4½ pt option. 71. Click to select the color black (otherwise you will not be able to see the outline). 20 Authored by: Palani Murugappan
WORKING WITH CHARTS 72. The February column bar is highlighted more prominently. 73. Notice that the gridlines still appear within the Plot Area. To remove these gridlines, click on it first. 74. Click on the Layout tab. 75. Click on the Gridlines command button. Select Primary Horizontal Gridlines, followed by None. 21 Authored by: Palani Murugappan
MICROSOFT EXCEL 2010 76. The gridlines in the Plot Area is removed as illustrated. 77. Click on the Plot Area command button and select the None option. 78. The Plot Area now has the same color as the Chart Area as in the illustration. 22 Authored by: Palani Murugappan
WORKING WITH CHARTS 79. Click on the Data Labels command button and select the Inside Base option. 80. The actual values are displayed at the bottom of each of the column bars. Click on any of the values to select all of them. 81. Right click on any of the values. Select the Format Data Labels option from the shortcut menu displayed. 82. The Format Data Labels dialog box is opened. Select the Alignment category. 23 Authored by: Palani Murugappan
MICROSOFT EXCEL 2010 83. Change the Text direction to Rotate all text 270 0. 84. Click the button to close the Format Data Labels dialog box. 85. Click anywhere outside the chart. You final result should appear as follows. 86. Let us now focus on a new feature of Excel 2010 i.e. sparkline. 24 Authored by: Palani Murugappan
WORKING WITH CHARTS Sparkline What is a sparkline? A sparkline in Excel 2010 is a small chart embedded within a single cell. The following example illustrates this. 1. Assume you have the same data used in the above chart example. Click to select cell A9. 2. To create a sparkline, select the tab. Click on the Column icon in the Sparklines group. 3. The Create Sparklines dialog box is opened. In the Data Range text box, click to highlight the range of cells from C1 to C7 (i.e. the data range in Excel). In the Location Range text box, click to select cell A9 (i.e. this is where the Column chart will be embedded). 4. Click the button to accept the above values. 25 Authored by: Palani Murugappan
MICROSOFT EXCEL 2010 5. A tiny column chart is inserted in cell A9 as follows. 6. If the column chart appears too small, increase the row height to approximately 30.00 (50 pixels). 7. Whilst cell A9 is still selected, click on the Line command button in the Type group. 26 Authored by: Palani Murugappan
WORKING WITH CHARTS 8. The column chart is converted to a line chart as illustrated. 9. To remove the line chart sparkline, ensure cell A9 is still selected. Click on the Clear drop down list and select the Clear Selected Sparklines option as pointed to. 10. The line chart sparkline is now cleared. 11. You can now quit and save the workbook! 27 Authored by: Palani Murugappan