Learn how to Edit and Format Charts.
Sometimes, your chart is perfect, just as you've created it. No rough draft, no second version needed, perfect.
Other times, however, you realize you forgot a piece of data, or maybe you used the wrong data entirely. Or maybe the chart is really unappealing to look at or confusing because it's too hard to read or interpret.
No matter. You can easily fix any of those issues!
First, let's look at how you can change which data is included in your chart. I've got a chart selected, and I click the Select Data button on the Chart Design tab.
I like to edit all of the data, rather than fiddle around with changing just some of it. Better to start over, as I do here, taking the selected Chart Data Range field and replacing its contents by simply selecting new data.
As I move the dialog box out of the way, note how new slices appear in the pie as I drag through more rows and snag more states and their population data.
The existing data labels, chart background, formatting of the legend – it's all still in place, just displayed with the new data. The only thing I have to do, because it was derived from the data I chose when I made the original chart, is replace the Chart Title. I do this by clicking the Add Chart Element button and selecting Chart Title, which I then type into the placeholder.
I then format the title using the Home tab's Font group tools.
Then, I can check out the Chart Design options, which take all the parts of my chart and show them through a series of templates. If you like one of them more than the others, just click on it and leave it in place on your chart.
After choosing one, I tweak the formatting of the Chart Title, Data Labels, and Legend.
And now I use the same Chart Design choices and check them out on my column chart.
After finding one I like – to match the pie chart's formatting – I want to get rid of the Data Labels. I do this by setting that to None under Data Labels in the Add Chart Element menu. I don't need them, because I had already added a Data Table when I made the original chart. You don't want any visual clutter on your charts – it's distracting and potentially confusing to the viewer.
Next, I want to add a value axis back - something that the design I chose eliminated. So, I chose Axis Titles from that Add Chart Elements menu, and the Format Axis panel opens. From there, I pick the little bucket icon, and that gives me Fill and Line options.
Line is the one I want, and I set that to Solid Line, and then I choose the color, selecting white so it will stand out on the dark background.
Last, after moving and resizing my charts, I'll try on some different colors for my various data series.
To start, be sure you've selected the series you want to recolor. You do this by clicking on any column in that series. Recoloring can be done via the Format tab's Shape Fill tool or by using the Change Colors button, on the Chart Design tab.
After trying on several different colors, I'm happy with my chart. But I know I can always go back and tinker again, quickly and easily!