Chapter 22: Creating Sparkline Graphics
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Changing the Sparkline type
As mentioned earlier, Excel supports three Sparkline types: Line, Column, and Win/Loss.
After you create a Sparkline or group of Sparklines, you can easily change the type by
selecting the Sparkline and clicking one of the three icons in the Sparkline Tools Design
➪ Type group. If the selected Sparkline is part of a group, all Sparklines in the group are
changed to the new type.If you’ve customized the appearance, Excel remembers your customization settings for each type if you switch among
Sparkline types.
Changing Sparkline colors and line width
After you’ve created a Sparkline, changing the color is easy. Use the controls in the
Sparkline Tools Design ➪ Style group.Colors used in Sparkline graphics are tied to the document theme. Therefore, if you change the theme (by choosing
Page Layout ➪ Themes ➪ Themes), the Sparkline colors will change to the new theme colors.
See Chapter 5, “Formatting Worksheets,” for more information about document themes.For Line Sparklines, you can also specify the line width. Choose Sparkline Tools Design ➪
Style ➪ Sparkline Color ➪ Weight.Highlighting certain data points
Use the commands in the Sparkline Tools Design ➪ Show group to customize the Sparklines
to highlight certain aspects of the data. The options are as follows:High Point Apply a different color to the highest data point in the Sparkline.
Low Point Apply a different color to the lowest data point in the Sparkline.
Negative Points Apply a different color to negative values in the Sparkline.
First Point Apply a different color to the first data point in the Sparkline.
Last Point Apply a different color to the last data point in the Sparkline.
Markers Show data markers in the Sparkline. This option is available only for Line
Sparklines.
You control the color of the highlighting by using the Marker Color control in the Sparkline
Tools Design ➪ Style group. Unfortunately, you can’t change the size of the markers in Line
Sparklines.