Thread: Excel's graphic explanation

With Excel columns of data are often hard to understand, but when converted to a graph they can be read ataglance. Imagine that you want to keep an eye on quarterly phone bills for a dial¬up internet connection. Start a new worksheet, and enter 21 /9/2005 in cell B1, Press the Control and 1 keys together. In any Windows version of Excel this will open the Format Cells dialogue box. Under the Alignment tab choose Horizontal, Center. Under the Font tab choose Bold. Under the Number tab choose Custom from the list of categories. Clear the Type box and enter mmm-yy then click OK.

With cell Bl selected, look for that Fill Handle - this is the little cross at the bottom right-hand comer of the cell. Right -click it, drag the mouse along to cell J 1 and release the button. When a menu appears choose Series. In the Step Value box enter 90, then click OK. This will display nine quarterly dates, from Sep-05 to Sep-07.
The next step is to enter call charges from phone bills. In cell A2, enter internet, in cell A3 enter other calls and in cell A4 enter cost of calls - this is the total cost, including both internet and normal calls. Enter the costs for these calls from each bill under the monthly headings. Click on cell Bl, hold the Shift key, then on cell J2.
This will highlight 18 cells. Under the Insert tab click the Line chart tool, or in older versions of Excel click the Chart Wizard tool.

Choose the Line with Markers chart type - in older versions of Excel click on Line, then select the left-hand icon in the middle row - Line with Markers will appear in the box below. In Excel 2007 the Chart Tools Bar will appear with three new tabs: Design, Layout and Format. In older versions, simply flick Finish. A chart will appear below the data, showing how the cost of internet use has varied over the past two years.



But the chart design can be improved by making a few changes. The series key that says 'Seriesl' is rather pointless, so right -click on it and choose Delete or Clear. To add a title click the Chart tools, Layout tab, then Chart title, or in older versions of Excel right-click the chart then choose Chart Options and Titles tab. Type a title in the Chart title box and click OK.

Change the chart background colour by right-clicking outside the plotted area and choosing Format Chart Area. Choose Fill, Solid fill, and a colour - in older versions of Excel simply choose a colour from the swatches and click OK. To change the background of the actual chart right -click closer to the plotted line and choose Format Plot area, then repeat the process. To change the colour or width of the plotted line right -click on it and choose Format data series. The box that appears enables you to change the shape of the line, the colour of the line
and the shape of the markers placed along it.