Navigating in uncharted waters of Microsoft Excel charts

Translating the sample chart

Now that you know the components of an Excel chart and how to manipulate them with your version of Excel, let's translate our sample chart. Off we go!

Our chart has the following translateable elements:

1. Chart title
2. Axis titles
3. Legend
4. Category or value names plotted along X or Y axes.

Figure 4: Translateable components

1. Translating a chart title

Perhaps the easiest way to translate the chart title is to click it with the mouse and edit the text. There are other ways depending on your version of Microsoft Excel:

• Excel 2003 and earlier:

  To select the chart title accurately, select 'Chart Title' from the drop-down list on the Chart toolbar.

  To edit the chart title quickly, select Chart -> Chart Options... and click the Titles tab. This will allow you to edit all axis titles as well.

• Excel 2007 and later:

  To select the chart title accurately, select 'Chart Title' from the drop-down list in the Current Selection group on Layout and Format tabs.

Sometimes you will also need to resize the chart title because the translation will not show as intended. Excel will not allow you to resize the text box, but you can change font properties to accomplish the task, or resize the whole chart.

2. Translating axis titles

As explained above, there are usually 2 axis titles on a chart, but sometimes there may be secondary axis titles appearing on the right or top of the chart.

Just like with a chart title, you can edit axis titles by clicking them with the mouse and editing the text. There are other ways depending on your version of Microsoft Excel:

• Excel 2003 and earlier:

  To select an axis title accurately, select 'Category Axis Title', 'Value Axis Title', 'Secondary Category Axis Title', or 'Secondary Value Axis Title' from the drop-down list on the Chart toolbar.

  To edit axis titles quickly, select Chart -> Chart Options... and click the Titles tab. Edit individual titles on the dialogue. You can also edit the chart title from this dialogue.

  

• Excel 2007 and later:

  To select an axis title accurately, select 'Horizontal (Category) Axis Title', 'Vertical (Value) Axis Title', 'Secondary Horizontal (Category) Axis Title', or 'Secondary Vertical (Value) Axis Title' from the drop-down list in the Current Selection group on Layout and Format tabs. You can also use the mouse, of course.