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Selecting and Formatting Chart Elements: The Chart Design Tab
When you create a chart in Excel, you can customize its appearance and layout using the Chart Design tab. This tab appears on the ribbon when you select a chart, and it contains various options to modify the chart elements, colors, styles, data, and type.
In this blog post, we will show you how to use the Chart Design tab to select and format different chart elements, such as titles, axes, labels, legends, gridlines, and data series. We will also explain how to change the chart type and apply a quick layout or style.
Selecting Chart Elements
To select a chart element, you can either click on it directly on the chart or use the drop-down list in the upper-left corner of the Chart Design tab. This list shows all the available elements for the current chart type. When you select an element from the list, it will be highlighted on the chart with a blue border.
You can also use keyboard shortcuts to select chart elements. Press Ctrl+Left Arrow or Ctrl+Right Arrow to cycle through the elements in reverse or forward order. Press Ctrl+Up Arrow or Ctrl+Down Arrow to select an element within a group of elements (such as a data series or an axis).
Formatting Chart Elements
Once you have selected a chart element, you can format it using the options in the Format group of the Chart Design tab. These options vary depending on the type of element you have selected. For example:
- For titles and labels, you can change the font size, color, alignment, and orientation.
- For axes and gridlines, you can change their scale, position, tick marks, labels, and number format.
- For legends and data tables (if any), you can change their position and layout.
- For data series (the bars/columns/lines/pie slices/etc.), you can change their fill color (or pattern/gradient), border color (or style/width), shape (or size/angle), gap width (or overlap), marker style (or size/color/fill), line style (or width/type/smoothness), error bars (if any), etc.
To access more formatting options for any element that has text or numbers in it (such as titles or axes), right-click on it and choose Format [element name] from the context menu. This will open a Format [element name] dialog box where you can adjust various settings under different tabs.
Changing Chart Type
If you want to change your chart type after creating it (for example from column to line), click on Change Chart Type in the Type group of the Chart Design tab. This will open a Change Chart Type dialog box where you can choose from different categories and subtypes of charts.
You can also switch between 2-D and 3-D charts by clicking on Switch Row/Column in the Data group of the Chart Design tab. This will swap the values in your data range along the horizontal and vertical axes.
Applying Quick Layout or Style
To quickly change your chart's layout or style without going into details, you can use the Quick Layout
and Quick Style buttons in the Chart Layouts and Chart Styles groups of the Chart Design tab respectively.
The Quick Layout button shows a gallery of predefined layouts that include various combinations of titles,axes,labels,legends,data tables,etc.You can hover over each layout thumbnail to see how it would look like on your chart before applying it.
The Quick Style button shows a gallery of predefined styles that include various combinations of colors,fills,borders,shadows,glows,etc.You can hover over each style thumbnail to see how it would affect your chart before applying it.
Conclusion
In this blog post,we have learned how to use the Chart Design tab to select and format different chart elements, change the chart type, and apply a quick layout or style. We hope this helps you create more effective and attractive charts in Excel.
FAQs
Q: How do I add or remove a chart element?
A: You can add or remove a chart element by clicking on Add Chart Element in the Insert group of the Chart Design tab. This will open a drop-down menu where you can choose which element to add or remove from your chart.
Q: How do I move or resize a chart element?
A: You can move or resize a chart element by dragging its blue border with your mouse pointer. You can also use the arrow keys on your keyboard to nudge it slightly. To resize an element proportionally, hold down Shift while
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