Excel Data Analysis For Dummies, 2nd Edition

Chapter 7

Customizing PivotCharts

In This Chapter

Selecting chart types and options

Changing a chart’s location

Formatting the plot and chart area

Formatting 3-D charts

Although you usually get pretty good-looking pivot charts by using the wizard, you’ll sometimes want to customize the charts that Excel creates. Sometimes you’ll decide that you want a different type of chart … perhaps to better communicate the chart’s message. And sometimes you want to change the colors so that they match the personality of the presentation or the presenter. In this chapter, I describe how to make these and other changes to your pivot charts.

Selecting a Chart Type

The first step in customizing a pivot chart is to choose the chart type that you want. When the active sheet in an Excel workbook shows a chart or when a chart object in the active sheet is selected, Excel adds the Design tab to the Ribbon to allow you to customize the chart. The second command from the right on the Design tab is Change Chart Type. If you click the Change Chart Type command button, Excel displays the Change Chart Type ...