Excel Chart Creation Course

1. Excel How to create a chart

2. Course contents • Overview: Telling the story behind the data • Lesson 1: Create a basic chart • Lesson 2: Tell the wizard what you want How to create a chart

3. Overview: Telling the story behind the data • A chart gets your point across, fast! With a chart, you turn worksheet data into a picture, where you can make a comparison or a trend visible at a glance. This course takes you through the basics of how to create charts in Excel. How to create a chart

4. Course goals • Create a chart using the Chart Wizard. • Make selections in the Chart Wizard. • Understand basic chart terminology. How to create a chart

5. Lesson 1 Create a basic chart

6. Create a basic chart • This lesson covers how to make a quick and basic no-frills chart in about ten seconds. • Then you'll see how the text and numbers from a worksheet become the contents of a chart, and you'll learn a few other chart basics before the practice session at the end of the lesson. Charts transform data into pictures. How to create a chart

7. Meet the wizard • Suppose you're looking at a worksheet that shows how many cases of Sir Rodney's Marmalade were sold by each of three salespeople in each of three months. • How would you create a chart to show how the salespeople compare against each other every month? The Chart Wizard How to create a chart

8. Meet the wizard • Select the data that you want to chart, as well as the column and row labels. • Click the Chart Wizard button on the toolbar to open the Chart Wizard. • When the wizard opens, the Column chart type is selected by default. • Click the Finish button at the bottom of the wizard. The Chart Wizard How to create a chart

9. How worksheet data appears in the chart • Each row of salesperson data has been given a color in this chart. • The chart legend, which was created from the row titles in the worksheet, tells which color represents the data for each salesperson. Worksheet row data is transformed into columns. How to create a chart

10. How worksheet data appears in the chart • Each chart column reaches a height proportional to the value in the cell that it represents. You can see at once how the salespeople stack up against each other as well as month by month. On the left side of the chart, Excel has created a scale of numbers by which you can interpret the column heights. Worksheet row data is transformed into columns. How to create a chart

11. Update and place charts • The wizard placed this chart as an object on the worksheet along with the data, as shown in the picture. When a chart is an object, it can be moved and resized. It can also be printed right along with the source data. A chart on the same worksheet as the data How to create a chart

12. Suggestions for practice • Open exercise 1. • Create a chart. • Update chart data. • Move a chart. • Resize a chart. • Look at other chart types. • Delete a chart. How to create a chart

13. Lesson 2 Tell the wizard what you want

14. Tell the wizard what you want • In this lesson you'll learn about an important choice that you can make in the Chart Wizard. • You choose whether your chart compares salespeople to each other, month after month; or whether it compares months to each other, salesperson by salesperson. • The picture shows both ways. Choose how the Chart Wizard compares your data. How to create a chart

15. Decide what to chart • Suppose you wanted to compare salespeople, not to each other, but to themselves, so that you can see their performance over time. • Once again, you’d select the Sir Rodney's Marmalade data, and open the Chart Wizard by clicking the Chart Wizard button . How to create a chart

16. Decide what to chart But this time you’d click the Next button instead of clicking Finish. That click will display the Data Range tab as Step 2 of the Chart Wizard. On the Data Range tab you can change your chart structure. How to create a chart

17. Decide what to chart • An example of different structures: The chart from the first lesson (shown on the left, in the picture) compares the salespeople to each other, month after month. To make this comparison, Excel grouped worksheet columns and compared worksheet rows. How to create a chart

18. Decide what to chart • If Excel grouped by rows and compared by columns, the chart would say something completely different. It would show how each salesperson did, better or worse, month by month, as shown on the right of the picture. You can choose which comparison to make by selecting either Rows or Columns in the Series in option. How to create a chart

19. Decide what to chart • On the Series tab, you can delete or add a data series for the chart. For example, you might decide to chart only two of the salespeople instead of all three. How to create a chart

20. Add titles • It's a good idea to add descriptive titles to your chart so that readers don't have to guess what the chart's about. • You can add a title for the chart by typing in the Chart title box, for example: Sir Rodney's Marmalade. Enter chart and axis titles in the Chart Wizard. How to create a chart

21. Add titles • Next is a title box for the Category (X) axis. This is Excel's term for the categories at the bottom of the chart (January and so on). You could call this axis First Quarter Sales. Enter chart and axis titles in the Chart Wizard. How to create a chart

22. Add titles • Next is a title box for the Value (Y) axis. In this chart, it's the scale of numbers that show how many cases the salespeople sold. You could call this axis Cases Sold. Enter chart and axis titles in the Chart Wizard. How to create a chart

23. Even more tabs and options • There are more tabs in the Chart Wizard. Each tab includes a preview so that you can see what your chart looks like if you change any of your choices. Various chart types offer different sets of options. • Gridlines • Legend • Data table How to create a chart

24. Even more tabs and options • For a clustered column chart, the tabs are: • Axes • Gridlines • Legends • Data Labels • Data Table • Chart Location • Gridlines • Legend • Data table How to create a chart

25. Suggestions for practice • Open exerise 2. • Change a chart by changing what's charted: • Change the values (the data series) that are charted. • Explore options in the wizard: • Titles, axes, and data labels; gridlines; legend; data labels again; data table. • Make a pie chart. How to create a chart