Excel 2010 Bible

Chapter 18: Getting Started Making Charts

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Tip
You can link the chart title to a cell so the title always displays the contents of a particular cell. To create a link
to a cell, click the chart title, type an equal sign (=), click the cell, and press Enter. Excel displays the link in the
Formula bar. In the example, the contents of cell A1 is perfect for the chart title. n

Experiment with the Chart Tools ➪ Layout tab to make other changes to the chart. For example,

you can remove the grid lines, add axis titles, relocate the legend, and so on. Making these changes

is easy and fairly intuitive.

Trying another view of the data

The chart, at this point, shows six clusters (months) of three data points in each (age groups).

Would the data be easier to understand if you plotted the information in the opposite way?

Try it. Select the chart and then choose Chart Tools ➪ Design ➪ Data ➪ Switch Row/Column.

Figure 18.7 shows the result of this change. I also selected a different layout, which provides more

separation between the three clusters.

Note
The orientation of the data has a drastic effect on the look of your chart. Excel has its own rules that it uses to
determine the initial data orientation when you create a chart. If Excel’s orientation doesn’t match your expec-
tation, it’s easy enough to change. n

The chart, with this new orientation, reveals information that wasn’t so apparent in the original

version. The <30 and 30–49 age groups both show a decline in satisfaction for March and April.

The 50+ age group didn’t have this problem, however.

FIGURE 18.7

The chart, after changing the row and column orientation, and choosing a different layout.