Creating a Standalone Chart
Even without your input, Excel usually makes common-sense choices, so you can often build a chart without needing to tweak any of these options.
You have two options for placing charts in a workbook. You can create an embedded chart, which appears in an existing worksheet (usually next to the appropriate data), or you can create a standalone chart, which appears in a new worksheet of its own.
Ordinarily, when you pick a chart type from the ribbon, Excel creates an embedded chart. However, you can easily switch your chart over to a new worksheet if you're running out of roomjust follow these steps:
- Right-click the chart, and then choose Move Chart (or, select the chart, and then choose Chart Tools : Design > Location > Move Chart). The Move Chart dialog box appears.
- Choose "New sheet", and then enter the name for the new worksheet.
- Click OK.
Excel creates the new worksheet and places the chart on it. The new worksheet goes in front of the worksheet that contains the chart data. (You can always move the worksheet to a new position in your workbook by dragging the worksheet tab.)
Tip: You can move or resize only embedded chartsthe ones that appear in floating boxes inside other worksheets. If you've created a standalone chart, you can't move or resize it. Instead, it automatically shrinks or enlarges itself to match the Excel window's display area.
Add and Edit Chart Data
Every chart remains linked to the source data you used to create it. When you alter the data in your worksheet, Excel refreshes the chart with the new information automatically. As long as Excel is set to automatic recalculations (and it almost always is), there's no such thing as an out-of-date chart.
Excel's got no restriction on linking multiple charts to the same data. So, you can create two different types of charts (like a pie and a column chart) that show the same data. You can even create one chart that plots all the data and another chart that just uses a portion of the same information.
Any range you define for use in a chart is static, which means it doesn't grow as your data grows. That means that if you add a new row at the bottom of the range, it doesn't appear on the chart because it's outside of the chart range. If you do want to insert additional data to a range of data used in a chart, you have several options:
- You can use the Home > Cells > Insert > Insert Sheet Rows command. If you do, Excel notices the change, and automatically expands the range to include the newly inserted row. However, this command works only if you add a row into the middle of your data. If you try to tack a row onto the end, Excel still ignores it, and you'll need to use the solution described in the next bullet point.
- After you insert new rows, you can modify the chart range to include the new data. This approach is the most common, and it's quite painless. First, select your chart by clicking the edge of the chart box, or a blank space in the chart. Excel highlights the linked worksheet data with a colored border. Click this colored border, and drag it until it includes all the new data you want. When you release the mouse button, Excel refreshes the chart with the new information.
Excel is smart enough to adjust your chart range in some situations. If you drag your chart data to a new place on your worksheet, Excel updates the chart to match automatically.
Changing the Chart Type
Changing a chart’s type is an easy procedure, so you can experiment with various chart types until you find the one that represents your data accurately, clearly, and as simply as possible. When you create a chart, you choose a specific chart type. However, in many situations you may want to try several different chart types with the same data to see which visualization tells your story better. Excel makes this sort of experimentation easy. All you need to do is click your chart to select it, and then make a different choice from the ribbon's Insert > Charts section. You can use this technique to transform a column chart into a pie chart.
You can also choose Chart Tools : Design > Type > Change Chart Type to make a choice from the Change Chart Type dialog box