Jan's Excel Format & Arrange (97- 2003): Format Column Chart

Step-by-Step: Format Column Chart

What you will learn:

to change chart type
to set chart options

Start with: trips15.xls (saved in previous lesson)

Right click in a blank area of the chart and choose Chart Type… from the popup menu. The Chart Type dialog opens.
Select Column, which is Excel's default chart type, and choose the first sub-type.
Click OK.

The chart is redrawn as a set of columns, using the default settings for this chart type. The data points are now labeled with the values they represent instead of the percentages.

The 18% wedge for Week 2 now is labeled 23 but it retained the pattern you assigned to it. All the other wedges are converted to the default dark red columns. The legend does not accomplish much in this case. You will get rid of it shortly.

Since Week 2 had the highest number of tickets sold, it actually works well to have it's column a different color from the rest.

The blank background is good for many charts, but sometimes a pattern or image can help.

Right click in a blank area of the chart and choose Format Chart Area… from the popup menu. The Format Chart Area dialog opens, with tabs for Patterns, Font, and Properties.
On the Patterns tab, click on the Fill Effects button. The Fill Effects dialog opens with tabs for Gradient, Pattern, Texture, and Picture. Experiment with some of the choices.
Click on Picture and on the Select Picture button.
$File name text box c:\windows\clouds.bmp$ In the File name text box type:
c:\windows\clouds.bmp .
c:\windows\FeatherTexture.bmp

Or you can browse to find another picture to use. The paths are to files that are backgrounds that comes with Windows, if you installed to the folder Windows.
If you don't find one of these files on the hard disk, use some other picture or use one of the choices on the Texture tab of the dialog. A light color will work best.)
Click OK to close the Fill Effects dialog.
Click OK again to close the Format Chart Area dialog.

Your chart now shows the clouds image as a background. Much prettier than a plain white background! Of course a busy or dark image could make it hard to read your chart.

From the menu select Chart | Chart Options… The Chart Options dialog opens with 6 tabs. Check out the various options on each tab. Choice, choice, choices.
Click on the tab Legend and uncheck the box for Show legend. This particular chart is not helped by a legend. (You could have clicked the legend on the chart to select it and press DELETE.)
Click on the tab for Titles.
In the text box for Chart title, edit the title to read Number of Tickets Sold , which explains the chart better.
In the text box for Category (X) axis, type Weeks of Special Offer
Click on OK.
Rename the Pie Chart sheet as Tickets Sold Chart (Hint: Right click on sheet tab and choose Rename or double-click the tab and type.)
Deselect the chart by clicking off the chart.
Open Print Preview. (File | Print Preview)
The preview is not in gray scale, even if the printer is set to print that way. This makes it hard to be sure what the printed page will look like.