A chart is a tool you can use in Excel to
communicate your data graphically.
Not only are charts easy to create, they are
often very easy for your audience to understand.
Charts allow users to more easily see the
meaning behind the numbers in the spreadsheet,
and make showing comparisons and trends a
lot easier.
For example, if I asked you to review this
spreadsheet and tell me if sales are increasing
or decreasing in 2008 could you do so quickly?
What about if you looked at this chart? As
you can see, sometimes a chart really is an
effective tool for communicating information.
Every charts starts with data, so let's take
a look at a spreadsheet for a small business
called Coastal Candle Company.
We can see from the spreadsheet that we have
salespeople and some assorted data.
To show you how to create a Chart, let's use
the information on the Summary sheet, so we'll
just click it to select it.
Now, you can see that this view gives us a
summary of the Salespeople and the dollar
amount in sales for each month.
Let's create a chart that compares the sales
of all our salespeople, month by month.
To do this, select the information that you
want to chart, including the column titles
and the row labels.
Then click the Insert tab.
In the Charts group you can see several different
types of charts.
Let's take a look at some of the most popular
ones.
Columns are often used to compare items.
We'll probably want to use the Columns command
to compare our salespeople.
Line charts are great to display trends over
time.
So, let's say you want to see how a particular
product sold over the course of the year.
A line graph would be a great chart to use
because you could use one line to represent
that product and additional lines to represent
other products.
Pie charts can be used to represent items
or pieces that combined together form a total
amount.
For example, if I asked a class of 30 students
the question...
Where do you use the Internet? I could display
the results in a Pie Chart.
If you have multiple items to compare, a bar
chart might meet your needs.
And you have Area, Scatter, and Other Charts,
as well.
Don't worry.
If you're not sure how you can use these,
just hover over the command and a box will
appear with some information about how each
chart is best used.
Now, let's get to the fun stuff.
To insert a chart, click the command of your
choice from the Charts group.
I think a Column chart will work well for
this, so we'll just click that.
Now, we see a number of chart types to choose
from.
You have so many options.
For this example, let's just choose a basic,
2 D Clustered Column.
I know the name of this chart because it displays
when I hover my pointer over it.
Now, just left-click it to select it, and
there you go...your chart appears.We can see
how much each salesperson sold each month,
and how their sales varied from month to month.
Our salespeople, which are the row titles
in the cells, now appear on the bottom of
the chart.
The column titles from the worksheet: January,
February, and March are now represented in
the chart graphically and labeled to the right
in the legend.
The legend tells you which color represents
what data in the spreadsheet.
We can see that the blue bar represents January
sales.
On the left side of the chart, Excel has created
a scale of numbers to help you understand
what the column height of each month means.
The height of each column is in proportion
to the data in the cells.
Now that you know how to insert a chart, let's
take a look at some of the Chart tools.
Once you insert a chart, a new set of Chart
Tools that are arranged into 3 tabs, will
appear above the Ribbon.
These are only visible when the chart is selected.
Let's take a look at the Design tab first.
If you want to change the chart type after
you create your chart, you can do so from
this tab.
Just click Change Chart Type and from the
menu that appears, select another chart type.
You can stay with the Column Charts or even
choose something completely different.
I like the Column Charts, but I think I want
this 3D version of the Clustered Column, so
I'll just click it, and then click Ok.
Your Chart Type will change.
Right now, the chart shows in 3D how each
salesperson did month by month, in essence
comparing their January sales to their February
sales to their own March sales.
But you can change what is being compared
by simply clicking the Switch Row/Column Data
command.
Clicking this command will switch the info
that appears vertically and horizontally on
the x and y axis.
Now, the chart compares salespeople to each
other in each month.
You can see that a simple click of a button
can change the chart significantly.
You can switch the chart back to the original
view by clicking Switch Row/Column again.
You can modify your chart in a lot of other
ways, too.
OK, stay with me here.
This may remind you a little of high school
math.
This chart has two axes.
On the left is the vertical axis, also known
as the y axis.
Right now, the vertical axis displays a scale
of numbers which we can use, along with the
columns, to determine how much each salesperson
sold each month.
Here at the bottom is the horizontal axis,
also called the x axis, which displays the
salesperson's name.
Excel gives us the ability to change the chart
layout and add chart titles and text that
describe our axes.
On the Design tab, find the Chart Layouts
group.
You can click the More arrow to view all your
options, and just left-click an option to
select it.
This one looks good - it lets me add a chart
title, but if it's not what you want, just
choose another one.
This one just jumbles the text and doesn't
work for this chart but this one is what I
want.
It allows me to label both axes and give my
chart a title.
Now, you can type the titles directly in the
chart.
I'll call my chart 1st Quarter 2008 Sales,
and then on the y axis type Sales Amount and
on the x axis, type Salespeople.
You can do a few other things from the Design
tab.
For instance, you can apply a Chart Style
by selecting an option from the Chart Styles
group.
This can dramatically change the look of your
chart.
Another great command is the Move Chart command.
This command does exactly what it states - it
moves the chart.
Let's see how this works.
Just click the command and a dialog box appears.
Right now, the Object in radio button is selected
and Summary appears in the drop-down list.
This is reminding us that the chart currently
appears on the Summary sheet.
You can change this so the chart appears on
another existing worksheet, or select New
Sheet, name the sheet, and click OK.
Now, the chart appears in its own sheet.
There are way too many chart options for us
to go into them all in this video.
The Layout tab really gives you some serious
control over how things are displayed in your
chart, specifically the Labels, Axes, and
Background groups.
I encourage you to explore this tab, and those
3 groups and the commands.
Also, take a look at the Format tab.
From here, you can really change the visual
appearance of your chart so that it works
with the rest of your spreadsheet.
As you saw, adding a chart takes somewhere
around 10 seconds, but with all the Excel
tools at your disposal you can spend as much
time as you want really formatting your chart
to meet your needs.
