Topic 28: The Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Charts in Excel 2007

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The Excel 2007 Chart (also known as graph) is a visual representation of numeric values. Displaying data in a well-conceived chart can make your numbers more understandable.

The Excel 2007 charts have a great new look. That is why today Excel is one of the most commonly used application for creating charts.

Before you can create a chart, you must have some numbers (data) that stored in the cells in an Excel worksheet. Normally, the data that a chart uses can be resides in a single worksheet, or use data that's stored in other worksheets.

Creating an Excel 2007 Chart from Data in a Worksheet

Once you have entered the data you want to display as a chart into a worksheet and decided which type of chart you require, you can create it with just a few mouse clicks. Use the following illustration to quicklycreate a chart on the current worksheet.

Open Excel 2007 and create a worksheet as illustrated below.

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To create a chart

• Click on any cell within the data containing the information that you wish to display as a chart, or highlight the exact data area that you wish to display as a chart.
• On the Insert menu, in the Charts group, click the chart type you require. A gallery of thumbnail images for the related chart subtypes will appear.

• Click the required chart subtype to create the chart, or click All Chart Types to open the Insert Chart dialog box and choose from all available chart types.
• When you have selected a subtype, a chart will be created as an object in the worksheet and Chart Tools will appear on the Ribbon incorporating Design, Layout, and Format tabs.

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• For example, when choose the '3-D Clustered Column' subtype, the chart created as follow:

• Alternatively, click the Charts group Dialog Box Launcher to open the Insert Chart dialog box and see all the available chart types.

• You can also change the default chart type in the Insert Chart dialog box by selecting a chart type and clicking the Set as Default Chart button.

Note: To quickly create a chart of the selected data (based on the default chart type) as an object in the current worksheet, press Alt+F1. To create a chart of the selected data as a new sheet, press F11.

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Creating an Excel 2007 Chart from Data in a Different Worksheet

It is possible to display a chart on one worksheet using data from a different worksheet. The source data can even come from a separate open workbook.
To create a chart using data from a different worksheet, do the following:

To create a chart (data in another worksheet)

• Click a blank cell in the worksheet that you want the chart to be displayed in.
• From the Insert menu, in the Charts group, click the chart type and subtype you require.
• Select the Design tab under Chart Tools on the Ribbon and click Select Data in the Data group.

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• From the Select Data Source dialog box displayed, enter the data range that you want to use for the chart in the Chart data range: box by clicking the Collapse Dialog icon to the right of the Chart data range: box and selecting the workbook and/or worksheet and then the cell range that you want to use for the data source.

• Click the Expand Dialog icon to the right of the Select Data Source dialog box when you have finished.
• Alternatively you can type the data range into the Chart data range: box following the following formats:

• >> Type the format Sheet2!$A$8:$C$12 if you are charting the data in cells A8 to C12 in Sheet2 of the current workbook. >> If you want to use data from a sheet (Sheet1) in a different workbook (Workbook2), the format would be [Workbook2]Sheet1!$A$8:$C$12.
  If the name of either the worksheet or workbook contains spaces, enclose the workbook / worksheet name in single quotes,'[Sales2007]Jan Sales!'$A$8:$C$12.

• Click OK to close the Select Data Source dialog box.