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PROBLEM OF THE FORTNIGHT
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How do I label my Calc charts?
Q
I’ve been using LibreOffice
for years, but when I create
charts in Calc, I can’t work
out how to display dates as numbers
on the X axis. If I have a column of
dates going from 2001 to 2020, for
example, Calc seems to treat them as
data, which I suppose I understand.
However, if I create a column of
months, such as January, February,
March and so on, the program
correctly displays them as labels
along the X axis. As an experiment,
I entered the dates in the year column
as ‘y2001’, ‘y2002’ and ‘y2003’ – and
Calc correctly identified them as
labels rather than data. This makes
me wonder if labels on the X axis have
to start with a letter. Obviously, I’d
rather use the actual years as labels.
What am I missing?
Terry ChapmanA
We could write an entire
book on producing charts in
LibreOffice Calc. While we’re
sure some people would find that
riveting, we think your particular
problem is a fairly common one, so
we can offer a relatively concise
answer here.
You didn’t tell us which types of
chart you’re trying to create, but we
understand the fundamental problem
and we have a solution. But first, weshould mention that this quirk doesn’t
afflict all types of chart. If you were to
plot your data as an X-Y scatter chart, for
example, you would see the years along
the X axis and the data along the Y axis
(see screenshot above). That’s because
the nature of the X and Y axes is implicit
in this kind of chart.
However, if you create a bar chart or
similar, as we believe you’re doing, you
need to give LibreOffice a little more
guidance over what is data and what is a
label. There are numerous ways to
achieve this and, again, it depends on the
type of chart you want to create and how
you select the source data.To demonstrate this, we suggest
setting up a simple two-column chart,
with the years in column A, headed
‘Years’, and some made-up sales data in
column B, headed ‘Sales’ – because
once you grasp the basic idea, we think
you’ll be up and running.
First, click and drag to select all
the information for your chart,
including the headings, years and
data. Now click the Insert Chart
button to launch the Chart Wizard. If
you were to click Finish at this point,
Calc would immediately turn the
information into a chart. However,
it wouldn’t be what you wanted,
because the program would treat the
figures in the Years column as data.
Instead, click Next in the wizard to
progress to the ‘2. Data Range’ section.
Here you’ll find two tick boxes:
‘First row as label’ and ‘First column
as data’. For our example, you should
tick both boxes.
Depending on what you want to
achieve, you can click Next again until
you get to the ‘4. Chart Elements’
wizard page (see screenshot left),
where you can add a title and subtitle
to your chart, and apply any labels you
want to the X and Y axes.If you create an X-Y scatter chart, Calc correctly interprets dates as labels on the X axisAdd labels
and headings
to your Calc
chart in the
Chart Elements
section of the
wizard11 – 24 May 2022 • Issue 631