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Creating professional-looking charts is easier to do in Excel 2007 than in earlier versions. Excel 2007 provides several professionally designed layout and formatting gallery options that you can apply to charts without having to start from scratch.
Follow these steps to chart your data:
1. Select the data you want to chart, including any row and column labels (for category and series name identification.)
2. Click the Insert tab on the Ribbon and then click a Chart Type button in the Charts group.
Excel displays a chart subtype gallery.
3. Choose a subtype from the gallery.
If you hover the mouse pointer over a chart type button or chart subtype gallery option, Excel displays a ScreenTip that provides assistance on how you can use the particular chart type or subtype.
After you choose a subtype, Excel creates a chart and displays the chart tools contextual tabs on the Ribbon and a header on the Excel title bar above the tabs. Excel automatically displays the tools for the Design tab on the ribbon.
4. If the layout of elements on the chart that Excel creates isn't what you want, choose a new layout from the Chart Layouts gallery.
Use the upper arrows on the right side of the gallery to scroll the gallery display or the bottom arrow to display the entire gallery. Each layout includes a combination of elements for the chart. If you choose a layout that includes a chart title, click in the title box and type a title for the chart.
5. If required, select a new style for the chart from the Chart Styles gallery.
Use the upper arrows on the right side of the gallery to scroll the gallery display or the bottom arrow to display the entire gallery. The styles in the gallery are based on the theme currently applied in the workbook, so if you change the theme, the styles change to match the new theme.
• If the data you're charting contains more rows than columns, Excel uses the row data to create the category axis. The row labels are used for category labels and the column labels are used for series names.
• If the row labels are missing or not included in the range, Excel labels the category axis with numbers. If, in addition, the column labels are missing or not included in the range, Excel names the series as Series 1, Series 2, and so on.
• If the data you're charting contains more columns than rows, or an equal number of columns and rows, Excel uses the column data to create the category axis. The column labels are used for category labels and the row labels are used for series names.
• If the data you're charting contains only one series, Excel includes a chart title with the same name as the series name, assuming that a row or column label is available for the series name (as per the first rule.)
 | You can reverse Excel's category and series name choices after the chart is created by activating the chart and clicking the Switch Row/Column button on the Design tab. |
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