Excel 2007 For Dummies
Book image
Explore Book Buy On Amazon

When you add a chart to an Excel 2007 workbook, a new Chart Tools Design tab appears in the Ribbon. You can use the command buttons on the Chart Tools Design tab to customize the chart type and style. The Design tab contains the following groups of buttons:

Type group

Click the Change Chart Type button to change the type of chart, for example, to change from a bar chart to a line chart or a pie graph. Just click the thumbnail of the new chart type in the Change Chart Type dialog box.

Click the Save As Template button to open the Save Chart Template dialog box, where you save the current chart’s formatting and layout (usually after customizing) as a template to use in creating future charts.

Use the Change Chart Type dialog box to switch to another chart type.
Use the Change Chart Type dialog box to switch to another chart type.

Data group

Click the Switch Row/Column button to immediately transpose the worksheet data used for the Legend Entries (Series) and that used for the Axis Labels (Categories) in the selected chart.

Click the Select Data button to open the Select Data Source dialog box, where you can not only transpose the Legend Entries (Series) and the Axis Labels (Categories) but also edit out or add particular entries to either category.

Chart Layouts group

Click the More button (the last one with the horizontal bar and triangle pointing downward) to display all the thumbnails on the Chart Layouts drop-down gallery. Then click the thumbnail of the new layout style you want applied to the selected chart.

Chart Styles group

Click the More button (the last one with the horizontal bar and triangle pointing downward) to display all the thumbnails on the Chart Styles drop-down gallery. Then click the thumbnail of the new chart style you want applied to the selected chart.

Note that the Chart Layout and the Chart Styles galleries do not use the Live Preview feature. This means that you have to click a thumbnail in the gallery and actually apply it to the selected chart in order to see how it looks.

Embedded clustered column chart after selecting a new chart layout and color style from the Chart T
Embedded clustered column chart after selecting a new chart layout and color style from the Chart Tools Design tab.

About This Article

This article is from the book:

About the book author:

Greg Harvey has authored tons of computer books, the most recent being Excel Workbook For Dummies and Roxio Easy Media Creator 8 For Dummies, and the most popular being Excel 2003 For Dummies and Excel 2003 All-In-One Desk Reference For Dummies. He started out training business users on how to use IBM personal computers and their attendant computer software in the rough and tumble days of DOS, WordStar, and Lotus 1-2-3 in the mid-80s of the last century. After working for a number of independent training firms, Greg went on to teach semester-long courses in spreadsheet and database management software at Golden Gate University in San Francisco.
His love of teaching has translated into an equal love of writing. For Dummies books are, of course, his all-time favorites to write because they enable him to write to his favorite audience: the beginner. They also enable him to use humor (a key element to success in the training room) and, most delightful of all, to express an opinion or two about the subject matter at hand.
Greg received his doctorate degree in Humanities in Philosophy and Religion with a concentration in Asian Studies and Comparative Religion last May. Everyone is glad that Greg was finally able to get out of school before he retired.

This article can be found in the category: