Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics
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You can make changes to a data series by using options on the Ribbon or from the Format Data
Series dialog box. This dialog box varies, depending on the type of data series you’re working on
(column, line, pie, and so on).Caution
The easiest way to display the Format Data Series dialog box is to double-click the chart series. Be careful,
however: If a data series is already selected, double-clicking brings up the Format Data Point dialog box.
Changes that you make affect only one point in the data series. To edit the entire series, make sure that a chart
element other than the data series is selected before you double-click the data series. n
Deleting a data series
To delete a data series in a chart, select the data series and press Delete. The data series disappears
from the chart. The data in the worksheet, of course, remains intact.Note
You can delete all data series from a chart. If you do so, the chart appears empty. It retains its settings, how-
ever. Therefore, you can add a data series to an empty chart, and it again looks like a chart. n
Adding a new data series to a chart
If you want to add another data series to an existing chart, re-create the chart and include the new
data series. However, adding the data to the existing chart is usually easier, and your chart retains
any customization that you’ve made.Figure 19.19 shows a column chart that has two data series (Jan and Feb). The March figures just
became available and were entered into the worksheet in row 4. Now the chart needs to be
updated to include the new data series.Excel provides two ways to add a new data series to a chart:l (^) Activate the chart and choose Chart Tools ➪ Design ➪ Data ➪ Select Data. In the Select
Data Source dialog box, click the Add button, and Excel displays the Edit Series dialog
box. Specify the Series Name (as a cell reference or text) and the range that contains the
Series Values.
l (^) Select the range to add and press Ctrl+C to copy it to the Clipboard. Then activate the
chart and press Ctrl+V to paste the data into the chart.
Note
In previous versions of Excel, you could add a new data series by selecting a range of data and “dragging” it
into an embedded chart. That feature was removed, beginning with Excel 2007. n