Excel.charts to show off your data You can either enter the data into an Excel spreadsheet or use existing data to create charts. Know what you want to show and why. Keep it simple and clear. Target your audience. Data marker Each data marker represents one number from the worksheet. Data markers with the same pattern represent one data series. In the example above, the rightmost data marker represents the Qtr2 Actual value of 99. Major gridline Microsoft Excel creates axis values from the worksheet data. Note that the axis values in the example above range from 0 to 120, which encompasses the range of values on the worksheet. Major gridlines mark the major intervals on the axis. You can also display minor gridlines on a chart, which mark the intervals between the major intervals. Category names Excel uses column or row headings in the worksheet data for category axis names. In the example above, the worksheet row headings QTR1 and QTR2 appear as category axis names. Chart data series names Excel also uses column or row headings in the worksheet data for series names. Series names appear in the chart legend. In the example above, the row headings Projected and Actual appear as series names. Chart Tips When you rest your pointer over a chart item, a chart tip containing the name of the item appears. For example, when you rest the pointer over a legend, a chart tip that contains the word Legend appears. Here is the data that we will use to generate 3 charts with (Clustered Bar, Line with Markers, and Pie in 3D): Employee Votes Jennifer DeWeerth 6 Anne Popeo 5 Sandy Cummings 4 Justin Rahn 3 Robin Saxe 2 David Yahnke 1 Jim Sunderhaft 1 Enter the data into your Excel Spreadsheet. Select the headers and all data. April 28, 2009 Page 1
Clustered Bar Chart Click on the Insert tab. Select the down arrow in the bottom right corner of the Charts group. Select the Clustered Bar chart under the Bar category. This is the default Clustered Bar chart. We are going to adjust some of the settings to make it look even better. April 28, 2009 Page 2
Clustered Bar Chart After you have inserted a chart and while the chart is still selected, you will see three new tabs. Design, Layout and Format tabs now appear under the Chart Tools category. Design Tab: Layout Tab: Format Tab: Click on the Design Tab and change the Chart Style to a different style. The style I chose for my sample chart is Style 47. You have now made a clustered bar chart. Now, you are going to move the chart from being included on the worksheet that the data is on to its own worksheet. Under the Design tab, click on the Move Chart icon under the Location group. Select the New sheet option and click on OK. It will then move the chart from your data worksheet to its own sheet. April 28, 2009 Page 3
Line with Markers Chart Select the headers and all data. Click on the Insert tab. Select the down arrow in the bottom right corner of the Charts group. Select the Line with Markers chart under the Line category. Click on the Design Tab and change the Chart Style to a different style. The style I chose for my sample chart is Style 30. Go to the Charts Layout group under the Design tab. Select the first layout shown, Layout 4. Move the chart to a new worksheet (Under the Design tab, click on the Move Chart icon under the Location group. Select the New sheet option and click on OK. It will then move the chart from your data worksheet to its own sheet.) April 28, 2009 Page 4
Pie in 3D Chart Select the headers and all data. Click on the Insert tab. Select the down arrow in the bottom right corner of the Charts group. Select the Pie in 3D chart under the Line category. Go to the Charts Layout group under the Design tab. Select the first layout shown, Layout 4. Move the chart to a new worksheet (Under the Design tab, click on the Move Chart icon under the Location group. Select the New sheet option and click on OK. It will then move the chart from your data worksheet to its own sheet.) April 28, 2009 Page 5
Clustered bar chart Modified Axis display Here is the data that we will use to generate a Clustered bar chart: year Fall Spring 2006 1954 2247 2007 2034 2367 2008 2326 2398 2009 2489 Enter the data into your Excel Spreadsheet. Select the headers and all data. Select the headers and all data. Click on the Insert tab. Select the down arrow in the bottom right corner of the Charts group. Select the Clustered Bar chart under the Bar category. Click on either axis so that a rectangular box surrounds the titles. Right click and click on Select Data. In the legend series, remove Year. Click on Edit under the Horizontal Axis labels. Select the year data (2006 2009). Click ok twice. Go to the Charts Styles group under the Design tab. Select the first layout shown, Layout 30. Go to the Charts Layout group under the Design tab. Select the first layout shown, Layout 5. Title the chart, Online Students Registered by Semester. April 28, 2009 Page 6
Clustered bar chart Modified Axis display Move the chart to a new worksheet (Under the Design tab, click on the Move Chart icon under the Location group. Select the New sheet option and click on OK. It will then move the chart from your data worksheet to its own sheet.) April 28, 2009 Page 7