FastTips for Microsoft Excel 4.0: Chart Q&A

ID: Q85070



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SUMMARY

Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, Version 4.0 Automated Product Support Service Fax-Script

Questions and Answers: Chart

  1. Q. What are the new chart types available in Microsoft Excel version 4.0?

    A. Microsoft Excel 4.0 includes many new charting features. The three new chart types are: 3-D bar, 3-D surface, and radar charts. The 3-D bar charts are 3-D versions of the current 2-D bar charts. The 3-D surface charts help show relationships between two sets of data, while the radar charts can help show relationships between individual pieces of data.

    Many of the charts found in Excel version 3.0 have been given new built-in formats. For example, Microsoft Excel 3.0 has line charts that will plot Hi-Lo-Close information. Microsoft Excel 4.0 takes it one step further by offering a Volume/Hi-Lo-Close chart type. Excel 4.0 also offers extensions to the bar, column, combinations, pie, and 3-D pie charts.


  2. Q. How do I begin using the Excel 4.0 ChartWizard to help me create my chart?

    A. Microsoft Excel 4.0 includes a new feature called the ChartWizard. This tool helps you to easily create and modify charts. The ChartWizard tool is located on the Standard tool bar and is the second button from the right. It looks like a miniature chart with a magician's wand above it.

    To use the ChartWizard to create a chart, follow these four steps:

    1. Select the range of data that you want to chart.


    2. Click the ChartWizard button. Your mouse cursor will change to a cross hair.


    3. Using the mouse, move the cursor to where you want the top-left corner of the chart to be, then press and hold down the mouse button as you drag to where you want the lower-right corner of the chart. Release the mouse button.


    4. Excel 4.0 will display a dialog box labeled "ChartWizard -- Step 1 of 5" verifying the range of cells you want to plot. By default, Excel will display the range of cells that was highlighted before you clicked the ChartWizard tool.


    From here on, follow the directions in each dialog box, clicking the Next button when you have made your choices. If you need help on a particular option, click the Help button, and Microsoft Excel 4.0 will display the appropriate Help topic.

    Once you have completed all five steps of the ChartWizard, Microsoft Excel 4.0 will create the chart with the options you have selected. If the chart's axes need to be switched or modified, or if you want to change the range of cells that Microsoft Excel 4.0 is plotting, select the chart by clicking it once, and then click the ChartWizard tool in the tool bar. Excel 4.0 will display the "ChartWizard -- Step 1 of 2" dialog box. Complete the two steps to change these options.

    For more information on creating a chart with Excel 4.0's new ChartWizard, see Book 1, Chapter 12 of the "Microsoft Excel User's Guide."


  3. Q. I have already created a chart and I want to add new information to it. How can I do this without re-creating the chart?

    A. Microsoft Excel 4.0's new ChartWizard provides an easy method to modify the range of cells plotted on a chart.

    To change the range of cells that your chart is plotting, follow these four steps:

    1. If you are working with an embedded chart on the worksheet, click the chart once to select it. If you are attempting to update a chart that was created as a separate document from the worksheet, activate the chart by selecting its name from the Window menu.


    2. Click the ChartWizard tool. Excel will display a dialog box asking for the range of information you want to plot.


    3. Click and drag the worksheet behind the dialog box to select the entire range of data you want to have charted. The range you select will generally include the old information as well as the new, although there is no requirement to do this. You may select any information you want.


    4. When you have selected the range, click the Next button. You may now change information on which cells represent your category x-axis information and which cells represent your value y-axis information. After making your choices, click the OK button, and Excel will modify your chart according to your new specifications.


    If you do not want to use the ChartWizard, you may modify the chart manually by using the Edit Series command under the Chart menu. For embedded charts, you must first double-click the chart to open it into its own window before you will see the Chart menu. For more information on this method of modifying charts, see Book 1, Chapter 13 of the "Microsoft Excel User's Guide."

    For more information on editing charts in general, see Book 1, Chapter 13 of the "Microsoft Excel User's Guide."


  4. Q. When I select my data and create a new chart, Excel puts the information I want on the x-axis on the y-axis. How can I change this?

    A. Using Microsoft Excel 4.0's new ChartWizard is the easiest method to modify the information that Excel places in the chart. To switch your x and y axes, follow these four steps:

    1. If you are working with an embedded chart on the worksheet, click the chart once to select it. If you have created a chart as a separate document, activate it by selecting it from the Window menu.


    2. Click the ChartWizard tool.


    3. n the dialog box asking for the range of cells to be plotted, click the Next button.


    4. In the new dialog box, change the option titled "Data Series In" to the opposite of what it is currently set to.


    5. Click the OK button.


    For more information on how Excel plots charts, see Book 1, Chapter 12, page 23 of the "Microsoft Excel User's Guide."




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Last Reviewed: March 24, 1999