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176 Part III: Working with Graphics
16. Resize the embedded chart by dragging the sizing handle in its lower-right corner
so that the bottom edge of the Chart Area is flush with the bottom edge of row 27
and the right edge is flush with the right edge of column J.
17. Position the cell cursor in cell A1 and then save your work in a workbook named
Solved14-1.xls in your Chapter 14 folder in the My Practice Spreadsheets folder
on your hard disk and then close the workbook file.
Creating Charts
Excel’s Chart Wizard — opened by clicking the Chart Wizard button on the Standard
toolbar (the one with the tiny column chart on it) — is the key to generating a new
chart from your spreadsheet data. The Chart Wizard consists of the following four
dialog boxes that walk you through all the steps necessary to build a new embedded
chart or one on its own chart sheet:
Chart Type (Step 1 of 4), where you select the type of chart you want to create
from the different types and subtypes of charts
Chart Source Data (Step 2 of 4), where you verify the range of data to be charted
Chart Options (Step 3 of 4), where you select any options you want to add to
your chart such as titles, gridlines, data labels, and so on
Chart Location (Step 4 of 4), where you decide between embedding the chart in
the current worksheet or placing it on a separate chart sheet
Q. Do I have to select the data I want to graph want to chart, you can have Excel make
before I open the Chart Wizard? a guess as to the data range to be graphed
(which you can refine, if the program
A. No, as long as the cell cursor is located in leaves out necessary data or includes
one of the cells of the table of data you extraneous data).
Try It
Exercise 14-2: Creating a New Embedded Chart
Open the Exercise14-2.xls workbook file in your Chapter 14 folder in the My Practice
Spreadsheets folder on your hard disk or in the Excel Workbook folder on the work-
book CD-ROM. You use the CG Media - 2006 Quarterly Sales Totals table (note that
this worksheet contains many hidden columns) on its Sales-06 worksheet to practice
creating a new chart with the Chart Wizard:
1. While the cell cursor is still located in cell A1, click the Chart Wizard button on
the Standard toolbar.
Excel opens the Chart Wizard –Step 1 of 4 – Chart Type dialog box. Note in Figure
14-3 that this dialog box contains a Chart Type list box with a tiny thumbnail and
the name of each chart type on the left. The dialog box also contains a larger
thumbnail with a name and description of each chart subtype in the Chart Sub-
Type list box on the right.
2. Click the Bar thumbnail in the Chart Type list box on the left and then click and
hold down the Press and Hold to View Sample button at the bottom of the Chart
Sub-Type list box while the Clustered Bar thumbnail is selected in the Chart Sub-
Type list box on the right. After previewing the data in this kind of chart, release
the Press and Hold to View Sample button.