Excel 2013 All-in-One For Dummies
Book image
Explore Book Buy On Amazon

Sometimes, instead of data labels that can easily obscure the data points in the chart, you’ll want Excel 2013 to draw a data table beneath the chart showing the worksheet data it represents in graphic form.

To add a data table to your selected chart and position and format it, click the Chart Elements button next to the chart and then select the Data Table check box before you select one of the following options on its continuation menu:

  • With Legend Keys to have Excel draw the table at the bottom of the chart, including the color keys used in the legend to differentiate the data series in the first column

  • No Legend Keys to have Excel draw the table at the bottom of the chart without any legend

  • More Options to open the Format Data Table task pane on the right side where you can use the options that appear when you select the Fill & Line, Effects, Size & Properties, and Table Options buttons under Table Options and the Text Fill & Outline, Text Effects, and Textbox buttons under Text Options in the task pane to customize almost any aspect of the data table

The figure illustrates how a clustered column chart looks with a data table added to it. This data table includes the legend keys as its first column.

image0.jpg

If you decide that having the worksheet data displayed in a table at the bottom of the chart is no longer necessary, simply click to deselect the Data Table check box on the Chart Elements menu.

About This Article

This article is from the book:

About the book author:

Greg Harvey, PhD, is President of Mind Over Media and a highly skilled instructor. He has been writing computer books for more than 20 years, and his long list of bestsellers includes all editions of Excel For Dummies, Excel All-in-One For Dummies, and Excel Workbook For Dummies.

This article can be found in the category: