Excel 2010 Bible

Part III: Creating Charts and Graphics

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FIGURE 19.2

Using the Chart Element drop-down control to select a chart element.

If you create complex charts with lots of formatting, you may find that screen updating slows down. If

so, that’s a good time to turn on Draft mode.

New Feature

The Draft Mode charting option is new to Excel 2010. n

Select the chart, and choose Chart Tools ➪ Design ➪ Mode ➪ Draft. This command toggles Draft mode

for the selected chart. This Ribbon button also has a drop-down list, which has commands to apply

Draft mode to all charts. A Draft Mode indicator appears in the lower-right corner. Click this indicator

to switch from Draft mode to Normal mode.

When a chart is displayed in Draft mode, some formatting may be hidden. For example, dashed and

dotted lines appear solid, shadows are hidden, gradients display as solid colors, and transparent ele-

ments are not transparent.

When you edit a chart in Draft mode, you’ll notice that some formatting commands appear to have no

effect. For example, if you apply a shadow to a chart element, the shadow does not appear. However,

if you set the chart to Normal mode, the formatting will appear. Therefore, I recommend formatting

your charts using Normal mode, not Draft mode.

In the unlikely event that you would like Draft mode to be the default for all charts, choose File ➪

Options, click the Advanced tab, locate the Charts section, and select the Insert Charts Using Draft

Mode check box.

Draft Mode for Charts