The new x-axis will be much cleaner to look at: To learn about other date formats, you can check out the Definitive Guide Custom Number Formats in Excel. In the Format Cells dialog, choose the Custom category, and in the Type field, type “mmmmm”. In the Format menu of the Home tab, click the arrow in the lower right to bring up the Format Cells dialog. To format the date axis, select the date cells from the original data table. It is possible to just show the number of the month, but it can sometimes be clearer to use the first letter of the month. The year will probably be shown in the chart title, so we only really need to see the month. This chart only shows monthly data, so it doesn’t help to provide the day. When working with dates on an axis, it is often difficult to read the timeline. When it is selected as seen below, press the Del key to remove the legend from the graph. Select the legend by clicking on the text or line graphic. Since it’s not needed, let’s go ahead and delete the legend. If the chart is titled “Sales” and there is only one line, the user doesn’t need to be told again that the line represents sales figures. When you are working with a single data series, there is no confusion about what data is being presented. Small Tweaks and Improvements Removing the Legend Let’s see what we can do to make it look more professional. It isn’t very pretty, but it would get the job done. Start by selecting your basic data table with the series name on the left and the dates (or labels) in the top row.įrom the Chart menu on the Insert tab, choose the Line drop-down and choose the first option. It may not have the polish we want, but Excel’s basic line chart is a great starting point for our cool new version. Here’s how to make a better line chart in Excel… The Default Line Chart
These touches can give the boring old graphs a fancy new look. Even a basic line chart can be given a cool makeover with better colors, axes, and shaded background to make it stand out. To make your presentation, website, or sales pitch really make a good impression, you’ll want to find a way to improve on the default charts. They are functional, but they don’t give a very professional look to your data.
4Adding a Shaded Area to the Line ChartĮxcel has some great basic charts and graphs build in, which makes it easy to build visualizations of your data.
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