Chapter- 2: Creating and Formatting charts.

Create your chart

Available If you’re new to charting, start by exploring the charts you can
chart types create in Excel and learn a little more about best ways to arrange
your data for each of them.

Select data Then, enter your data the way it should be for the chart you want,
for a chart and select it to create your chart.

Create a When you’re ready to create your chart, select your data and pick
chart the chart you want from a list of recommended charts.

Create a If you have a lot of data and want to interact with that data in your
PivotChart chart, create a standalone (decoupled) PivotChart. It has interactive
filtering controls that let you analyze a subset of your data. Excel
can recommend a PivotChart for your data, and you don’t need to
create a PivotTable to go with it.
Fine-tune your chart

Add a chart title You can replace the placeholder chart title with an appropriate
chart title, format it the way you want, or move it to a different
place in the chart.

Add data labels to Make a chart easier to understand by adding data labels that
a chart show details about a data series or its individual data points.

Change axis labels Axis labels are shown for any horizontal, vertical, and depth
in a chart axes in your chart. Labels automatically display text from the
source data to describe the data that’s shown, but you can use
your own text instead.

Add error bars to a Error bars show margins of error at a glance. You can add them
chart to all data points in a data series as a standard error amount, a
percentage, or a standard deviation.

Add a trend or Show data trends or moving averages by adding a trendline to

moving average your chart. A trendline can also help you predict future values
line to a chart by showing upward or downward trends.

Add or remove a When the numbers in your chart vary widely, or when you’ve
secondary axis in a got mixed types of data (for example, price and volume), you
chart can plot the values of one or more data series on a secondary
vertical axis.
Change the color If standard colors and chart styles don’t strike your fancy, it’s
or style of a chart easy to change both. You can quickly pick what you like from a
wide range of options in the color and style galleries.

Format elements A formatting task pane makes it easier to format any chart
of a chart element. To open it, right-click any chart element.

Save a custom If you plan to use the chart you’ve created again, you can save
chart as a template it as a template that you can apply just like any other chart.

Column Chart:
Data that’s arranged in columns or rows on a worksheet can be plotted in a
column chart. A column chart typically displays categories along the horizontal
(category) axis and values along the vertical (value) axis, as shown in this chart:

Types of column charts

 Clustered column and 3-D clustered column

A clustered column chart shows values in 2-D columns. A 3-D

clustered column chart shows columns in 3-D format, but it doesn’t
use a third value axis (depth axis). Use this chart when you have
categories that represent:
 Ranges of values (for example, item counts).
 Specific scale arrangements (for example, a Likert scale with
entries like Strongly agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, Strongly
disagree).
 Names that are not in any specific order (for example, item
names, geographic names, or the names of people).
 Stacked column and 3-D stacked column A stacked column
chart shows values in 2-D stacked columns. A 3-D stacked column
chart shows the stacked columns in 3-D format, but it doesn’t use a
depth axis. Use this chart when you have multiple data series and you
want to emphasize the total.
  100% stacked column and 3-D 100% stacked column A 100%
stacked column chart shows values in 2-D columns that are stacked to
represent 100%. A 3-D 100% stacked column chart shows the
columns in 3-D format, but it doesn’t use a depth axis. Use this chart
when you have two or more data series and you want to emphasize
the contributions to the whole, especially if the total is the same for
each category.

 3-D column 3-D column charts use three axes that you can change
(a horizontal axis, a vertical axis, and a depth axis), and they compare
data points along the horizontal and the depth axes. Use this chart
when you want to compare data across both categories and data
series.

Line chart
Data that's arranged in columns or rows on a worksheet can be plotted in a line
chart. In a line chart, category data is distributed evenly along the horizontal
axis, and all value data is distributed evenly along the vertical axis. Line charts
can show continuous data over time on an evenly scaled axis, so they're ideal
for showing trends in data at equal intervals, like months, quarters, or fiscal
years.
Types of line charts
 Line and line with markers Shown with or without markers to
indicate individual data values, line charts can show trends over time
or evenly spaced categories, especially when you have many data
points and the order in which they are presented is important. If there
are many categories or the values are approximate, use a line chart
without markers.

 Stacked line and stacked line with markers Shown with or

without markers to indicate individual data values, stacked line charts
can show the trend of the contribution of each value over time or
evenly spaced categories.

 100% stacked line and 100% stacked line with markers Shown
with or without markers to indicate individual data values, 100%
stacked line charts can show the trend of the percentage each value
contributes over time or evenly spaced categories. If there are many
categories or the values are approximate, use a 100% stacked line
chart without markers.
  3-D line 3-D line charts show each row or column of data as a 3-D
ribbon. A 3-D line chart has horizontal, vertical, and depth axes that
you can change.

Notes:
 Line charts work best when you have multiple data series in
your chart—if you have only one data series, consider using a
scatter chart instead.
 Stacked line charts sum the data, which might not be the result
you want. It might not be easy to see that the lines are stacked,
so consider using a different line chart type or a stacked area
chart instead.
Pie and doughnut charts
Data that's arranged in one column or row on a worksheet can be plotted in a pie
chart. Pie charts show the size of items in one data series, proportional to the
sum of the items. The data points in a pie chart are shown as a percentage of the
whole pie.

Consider using a pie chart when:

 You have only one data series.
  None of the values in your data are negative.
 Almost none of the values in your data are zero values.
 You have no more than seven categories, all of which represent parts
of the whole pie.
Types of pie charts
 Pie and 3-D pie Pie charts show the contribution of each value to a
total in a 2-D or 3-D format. You can pull out slices of a pie chart
manually to emphasize the slices.

 Pie of pie and bar of pie Pie of pie or bar of pie charts show pie
charts with smaller values pulled out into a secondary pie or stacked
bar chart, which makes them easier to distinguish.

Doughnut Chart:
Data that's arranged in columns or rows only on a worksheet can be plotted in a
doughnut chart. Like a pie chart, a doughnut chart shows the relationship of
parts to a whole, but it can contain more than one data series.

Types of doughnut charts

  Doughnut Doughnut charts show data in rings, where each ring
represents a data series. If percentages are shown in data labels, each
ring will total 100%.

Note: Doughnut charts aren't easy to read. You may want to use a
stacked column charts or Stacked bar chart instead.
Bar chart
Data that's arranged in columns or rows on a worksheet can be plotted in a bar
chart. Bar charts illustrate comparisons among individual items. In a bar chart,
the categories are typically organized along the vertical axis, and the values
along the horizontal axis.

Consider using a bar chart when:

 The axis labels are long.
 The values that are shown are durations.
Types of bar charts
 Clustered bar and 3-D clustered bar A clustered bar chart shows
bars in 2-D format. A 3-D clustered bar chart shows bars in 3-D
format; it doesn’t use a depth axis.
  Stacked bar and 3-D stacked bar Stacked bar charts show the
relationship of individual items to the whole in 2-D bars. A 3-D
stacked bar chart shows bars in 3-D format; it doesn’t use a depth
axis.

 100% stacked bar and 3-D 100% stacked bar A 100% stacked
bar shows 2-D bars that compare the percentage that each value
contributes to a total across categories. A 3-D 100% stacked bar chart
shows bars in 3-D format; it doesn’t use a depth axis.

Area chart
Data that's arranged in columns or rows on a worksheet can be plotted in an area
chart. Area charts can be used to plot change over time and draw attention to the
total value across a trend. By showing the sum of the plotted values, an area
chart also shows the relationship of parts to a whole.

Types of area charts

 Area and 3-D area Shown in 2-D or in 3-D format, area charts
show the trend of values over time or other category data. 3-D area
charts use three axes (horizontal, vertical, and depth) that you can
change. As a rule, consider using a line chart instead of a non-stacked
 area chart, because data from one series can be hidden behind data
from another series.

 Stacked area and 3-D stacked area Stacked area charts show the
trend of the contribution of each value over time or other category
data in 2-D format. A 3-D stacked area chart does the same, but it
shows areas in 3-D format without using a depth axis.

 100% stacked area and 3-D 100% stacked area 100% stacked
area charts show the trend of the percentage that each value
contributes over time or other category data. A 3-D 100% stacked
area chart does the same, but it shows areas in 3-D format without
using a depth axis.

bubble chart
Bubble chart
Much like a scatter chart, a bubble chart adds a third column to specify the size
of the bubbles it shows to represent the data points in the data series.
Type of bubble charts
 Bubble or bubble with 3-D effect Both of these bubble charts
compare sets of three values instead of two, showing bubbles in 2-D
or 3-D format (without using a depth axis). The third value specifies
the size of the bubble marker.

Surface chart
Data that's arranged in columns or rows on a worksheet can be plotted in a
surface chart. This chart is useful when you want to find optimum combinations
between two sets of data. As in a topographic map, colors and patterns indicate
areas that are in the same range of values. You can create a surface chart when
both categories and data series are numeric values.

Types of surface charts

 3-D surface This chart shows a 3-D view of the data, which can be
imagined as a rubber sheet stretched over a 3-D column chart. It is
typically used to show relationships between large amounts of data
that may otherwise be difficult to see. Color bands in a surface chart
do not represent the data series; they indicate the difference between
the values.
 Wireframe 3-D surface Shown without color on the surface, a 3-D
surface chart is called a wireframe 3-D surface chart. This chart
shows only the lines. A wireframe 3-D surface chart isn’t easy to
read, but it can plot large data sets much faster than a 3-D surface
chart.

 Contour Contour charts are surface charts viewed from above,

similar to 2-D topographic maps. In a contour chart, color bands
represent specific ranges of values. The lines in a contour chart
connect interpolated points of equal value.

 Wireframe contour Wireframe contour charts are also surface

charts viewed from above. Without color bands on the surface, a
wireframe chart shows only the lines. Wireframe contour charts
aren’t easy to read. You may want to use a 3-D surface chart instead.