Excel 2016 For Dummies
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In Excel 2016, you can use the command buttons on the Design tab of the Chart Tools contextual tab to make all kinds of changes to your new chart. The Design tab contains the following groups of buttons to use:

  • Chart Layouts: Click the Add Chart Element button to modify particular elements in the chart such as the titles, data labels, legend, and so on (note that most of the chart element options on this drop-down menu are duplicated on the chart elements palette that appears when you click the Chart Elements button in the worksheet to the right of a selected embedded chart). Click the Quick Layout button to select a new layout for the selected chart.

  • Chart Styles: Click the Change Colors button to display a pop-up palette with different colorful and monochromatic color schemes that you can apply to your chart. Highlight the various chart styles in the Chart Styles gallery to preview and select a style for the current type of chart.

  • Data: Click the Switch Row/Column button to interchange the worksheet data used for the Legend Entries (series) with 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 interchange the Legend Entries (series) with the Axis Labels (Categories), but also edit out or add particular entries to either category.

  • Type: Click the Change Chart Type button to open the All Charts tab of the Change Chart Type dialog box where you can preview and select a new type of chart to represent your data.

  • Location: Click the Move Chart button to move the chart to a new chart sheet or another worksheet.

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Greg Harvey, PhD is the President of Mind Over Media. Greg wrote his first computer book more than twenty years ago and since that time, he has amassed a long list of bestselling titles including Excel All-In-One For Dummies (all editions) and Excel Workbook For Dummies (all editions).

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