Get Started, Get Charted: Excel's Chart Wizard (beginner)

A picture is worth a thousand calculations and that's why charting (also known as graphing) is so important for displaying financial and other numerical information. If you get good at making charts in Excel, your intellectual net worth will be "off the chart." So let's get visual and start creating beautiful charts of your data using Excel’s Chart Wizard. In just four easy steps, you can have a chart depicting your data in one of many possible ways.

To begin, just get your data into view in Excel and, if possible, highlight the block of cells that you want to chart. Now click on the Chart Wizard button in the toolbar (see figure) or select Insert-Chart from the menus. The chart wizard process begins with Step 1 of 4.

Step 1: Specify The Chart Type
The first step of the charting procedure is to choose the type of chart you want to create. Excel provides two pages of possibilities in the ChartWizard: Standard Types and Custom Types. Standard Types are the main categories of charts. Custom Types are just standard charts that have been formatted, altered, and enhanced in some way, using Excel’s advanced charting features. You can use these features later to add effects to your charts and customize results.

Click on any of the chart types in the list and Excel will provide a few sub-type choices from which to choose. Most of these are easy to understand, but if you want a more detailed example, then click on the desired sub-type and then click the Press and Hold to View Sample button (see figure).

After selecting the desired type and sub-type, click Next.

Step 2: Identifying the Chart’s “Source Data”
If you highlighted the chart data before starting the chart wizard, your data will already be entered into Step 2 of the Chart Wizard procedure. Even if you didn’t highlight your data first, you can do so now by clicking on the worksheet behind the Chart Wizard box and dragging to identify the desired data.

When highlighting your data range, be sure to include any row and column labels that are appropriate. Do not include any main chart titles (see figure).

Choose Series in Rows if you want the chart series (the bars on a bar chart, for example) to represent the data in the rows of the data range. Choose Series in Columns if you want the series to represent the data in the columns. When in doubt, consult the sample chart in the Chart Wizard dialog box after clicking the different options. Here’s the different using the example worksheet:

Series in Rows: Display income by product category over four quarters.
Series in Columns: Display income by quarter over the different product categories.

NOTE: The Series tab in Step2 of the Chart Wizard is used only when your data range is not standard – that is, if your chart data is spread out over the worksheet.


Step 3: Setting the Chart Options
You can set some basic features for your charts in Chart Options. Excel provides six pages within this dialog box, each page containing various setup options for different parts of the chart. Here is a summary of these options:

Chart Titles: Type a name for the chart and for the X and Y axes.
Axes: Add or remove the X and Y axes.
Gridlines: Add or remove scale lines (or gridlines).
Legend: Set the position of the legend or remove it.
Data Labels: Display a label for each bar in the chart.
Data Table: Include the numeric chart data along with the chart.

You can experiment with any of these choices by clicking on it and observing the sample chart. You can alter your choices at any time.

Step 4: Specifying the Chart Location
The final step is to tell Excel where to put the finished chart. You can add it to the worksheet as its own sheet, or place it on an existing sheet as an object. As with all chart settings, you can change your mind at any time.

Step 5: Adjusting the Chart
When the Chart Wizard procedure is over, you can still go back to any of the steps to change your settings. Each step of the Chart Wizard process is accessible through the Chart Pop-Up menu. Just right-click on the chart to see these options (see figure).

Some things to remember:

You can move the chart around the page by simply clicking on it and dragging it into place.

You can change the size and shape of the chart by dragging on the sizing boxes that appear in the corners of the chart object when you click on the chart.

You can format the chart area to add colors and background images to the chart or to change the font used throughout the chart. To see the formatting options, right-click on the chart, then choose Format Chart Area from the pop-up menu. Choose the Properties tab and select Don’t move or size with cells to prevent the chart from expanding and contracting when you adjust cells in the worksheet.

You can re-position the legend, chart title and certain other pieces of text inside the chart. Just click on the desired text and drag it within the chart.