XL: Macro to Remove 0% Labels from a Pie Chart

ID: Q142132

The information in this article applies to:

SUMMARY

Microsoft Excel creates 0% labels when a pie chart has data that includes blanks or the value 0 (zero). These labels can overlap other labels, making it difficult to read the chart. You can manually delete these labels one at a time. However, when your data changes, Microsoft Excel puts the labels back. This article contains a sample Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications macro (Sub procedure) to remove the labels automatically.

MORE INFORMATION

Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and/or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language being demonstrated and the tools used to create and debug procedures. Microsoft support professionals can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific needs. If you have limited programming experience, you may want to contact the Microsoft fee-based consulting line at (800) 936-5200. For more information about the support options available from Microsoft, please see the following page on the World Wide Web: 

   http://www.microsoft.com/support/supportnet/refguide/
This example removes the 0% labels from a chart. You can run the ClearLabels procedure manually or have it run automatically when the sheet is calculated by using the Auto_Open and Auto_Close procedures. You can easily modify this macro to work with "Show Label and Percent" data labels or "Show Percent" data labels.

Use Auto_Open or Auto_Close to have the chart update automatically with changes in the data. To run the macro manually, click Macro on the Tools menu, click the ClearLabels macro, and click Run.

Sample Visual Basic Procedure

   Sub Auto_Open()
      ' Change the "Sheet1" to the sheet with your data on it.
      Worksheets("Sheet1").OnCalculate = "ClearLabels"
   End Sub

   Sub Auto_Close()
      Worksheets("Sheet1").OnCalculate = ""
   End Sub

   Sub ClearLabels()
      ' Change the "Sheet1" to the Sheet with your chart on it and
      ' "Chart 1" to the name of your chart.
      Worksheets("Sheet1").ChartObjects("Chart 1").Chart.ApplyDataLabels _
         Type:=xlShowPercent
      ' Note: In preceding statement, use Type:=xlShowPercent for charts
      ' with just percents, if there are none. Use
      ' Type:=xlShowLabelAndPercent instead for charts with both, Labels
      ' and Percents, if there are none.
      For Each X In Worksheets("Sheet1").ChartObjects("Chart 1"). _
         Chart.SeriesCollection(1).Points
         ' Use the following two lines for charts with just percents.
         If InStr(X.DataLabel.Text, "0%") > 0 _
            And Len(X.DataLabel.Text) = 2 Then
            ' Use the following line instead for charts with labels and
            ' percents.
            ' If InStr(x.DataLabel.Text, Chr(10) & "0%") > 0 Then
            X.DataLabel.Delete
         End If
      Next
   End Sub

REFERENCES

For additional information about getting help with Visual Basic for Applications, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 

   ARTICLE-ID: Q163435
   TITLE     : VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for
               Applications
Additional query words: 5.00 7.00 
Keywords          : kbcode kbprg PgmHowto 
Version           : WINDOWS: 5.0, 5.0c, 7.0; MACINTOSH: 5.0, 5.0a
Platform          : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type        : kbhowto

Last Reviewed: May 17, 1999