Here’s An Opinion On:
Working With Embedded Charts in Excel 2007
by
Carol Alexander
Before you can create a chart in Microsoft Excel, you need to highlight the data that you want to plot. Your selection should also include any relevant headings. Excel allows you to create charts on chart sheets independent of the worksheet containing the data or to embed the chart on the worksheet alongside the data.
To create a chart which is embedded in the worksheet, as opposed to a separate chart sheet, having selected the range of data that you wish to plot, click on the Insert tab of the Excel ribbon and, in the chart section, you will find a series of drop-down menus offering each of the main chart types. Each drop-down reveals a gallery of customised chart types.
Additionally, we can click on the launch button in the bottom right of the Charts group to bring up the Insert Chart dialog box. Here, we are given access to the full range of chart types that Excel has to offer. You will also notice that there is a button which says Set as Default Chart. If you use a particular type more than any other, you can choose that type and click this button so that the next time you create a standalone chart, by right-clicking on a worksheet tab and choosing Insert, the new default chart will be used as the chart type.
When you choose an option from one of the drop-down menus in the Charts group of the Insert tab, Excel creates the embedded chart. The chart is placed on Excel’s draw layer which is different from the worksheet layer. When you click on a worksheet cell, you are working on the worksheet layer and the chart becomes inactive. When you click on the chart, it is highlighted and you will then be working on the draw layer.
You will notice that when (and only when) the chart is highlighted, Excel displays three contextual tabs called Design, Layout and Format. They contain a series of options specifically related to charts.
The Design tab contains the Location Group which contains The Move Chart button. Clicking on this button gives us the option to move the chart to a separate sheet. If you choose the option, Excel creates a new chart sheet and places the chart on it. We can also do the reverse. If you click the Move Chart button again and click on “Object In…”, we can now choose the worksheet that we want to transfer the chart to. When we click OK, Excel embeds the chart in that worksheet and deletes the empty chart sheet.
The The writer of this article is a training consultant with
Macresource Computer Training
, a UK IT training company offering
Microsoft Excel 2007 Classes
in Birmingham, Cambridge and throughout the UK.
Article Source:
Working With Embedded Charts in Excel 2007