Advanced Presentations – Using Charts

Format chart title, legend, data labels, axes labels.

In order to format any of the chart properties, first of all we need to select the chart by double clicking on it, and then right click on the chart area. This gives a menu from which ‘Insert Titles’ can be selected. This gives a ‘Titles’ dialog box from where we can add a title, remove a title and also edit the title. If the title is already there, just delete the title and click on ‘OK’. This will remove the title. Similarly, by changing the title and clicking on ‘OK’, we can edit the title.


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1-chart-titleTo add data labels to a chart, select the chart by double clicking on it. After selecting the chart, click on ‘Insert’ button from the main menu bar and then click on ‘Data Labels’ from the resulting drop down menu. This will open the ‘Data Labels for all Data Series’ wizard. Under ‘Text Attributes’, we can check or uncheck the number or percentage data labels as per the requirement.2-data-labels

If the ‘Show value as number’ checkbox is checked, then the output will be as follows.

3-chartTo change the font size of the chart title, first of all select the chart by double-clicking on it. A grey border should surround the chart upon selection. After this, right click on the chart title and from the resulting menu, click on ‘Format Title’. This will display the ‘Main Title’ dialog box.

4-chart-title-fontIn this dialog box, under the ‘Font’ tab, we have a ‘Size’ drop down list. From this list, select the appropriate font size and click on ‘OK’. This will change the font size of the chart title.

In the same dialog box, under the ‘Font Effects’ tab, we have a ‘Font color’ drop down list. From this list, select the appropriate font color and click on ‘OK’. This will change the font color of the chart title.

5-chart-title-font-effectsTo change the font size and color of the chart axes, we need to follow similar steps. First of all select the chart by double-clicking on it. A grey border should surround the chart upon selection. After this, right click on the axes text and from the resulting menu, click on ‘Format Axis’. Doing this for the x-axis will open the ‘X Axis’ dialog box whereas doing these same steps for the y-axis will display the ‘Y Axis’ dialog box.

In both these dialog boxes, we have the ‘Font’ and ‘Font Effects’ tabs. These tabs have the same functionality as we have seen above for some similar dialog boxes. We have the ‘Size’ and ‘Font color’ drop-down lists in these dialog boxes from where we can choose the appropriate font color and font size for the axes text.

6-chart-title-x-axis7-chart-title-y-axisTo change the font size and font color for the legend text, we need to follow similar steps as we have seen above. First select the chart and then right-click on the legend text area and from the resulting menu, click on ‘Format Legend’. This will open the ‘Legend’ dialog box.

In this dialog box, we have the same ‘Font’ and ‘Font Effects’ tabs under which we have the ‘Size’ and ‘Font color’ drop-down lists. The appropriate values can be selected from these lists. After this, click on ‘OK’. This will change the font size and font color for the legend text.8-chart-legend