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Chapter 15: Adding Graphics to the Spreadsheet 195
line from the place where you originally click the mouse button to the place where you
release it.

When drawing a rectangle or an oval, you can constrain the tool to draw a square or
circle by holding down the Shift key as you drag the mouse. Note that when drawing a
two-dimensional shape such as a rectangle, square, oval, or circle, Excel automatically
draws the shape with a white fill that obscures any data or graphic objects that are
beneath the shape on layers below.

After you’ve drawn the basic shape, you can then use the Fill Color, Line Color, Line
Style, Dash Style, Shadow Style, and 3-D Style buttons on the Drawing toolbar to
enhance the basic shape. In addition to drawing your own shapes, you can insert any
number of ready-made shapes (including lines, arrows, flow chart symbols, banners,
and callouts) by selecting them from the AutoShapes pop-up menu and then sizing
them in the worksheet.
After selecting a shape from one of the AutoShapes menus, you position and size it in
the worksheet by dragging the thin, black cross mouse pointer. To constrain the shape
so that you can’t possibly mess up its proportions when dragging the outline to size
the AutoShape, hold down the Shift key as you drag.
Note that when you insert one of the callouts on the Callouts cascading palette, Excel
positions the insertion point within the callout AutoShape, enabling you to then enter
the text of the callout. (Callouts are the only AutoShapes that combine text and graph-
ics.) After you finish entering the text, click somewhere outside of the shape to dese-
lect the callout.

Try It

Exercise 15-4: Creating and Adding Graphics with the Drawing Toolbar
Open the Exercise15-4.xls workbook file in your Chapter 15 folder in the My Practice
Spreadsheets folder on your hard disk or in the Excel Workbook folder on the work-
book CD-ROM. This workbook contains a copy of the 3D Column chart from Exercise
14-4 in the previous chapter on its own chart sheet (that in this workbook precedes
the Sale-06 worksheet). You will use this 3-D Column chart to practice drawing and
adding graphic shapes:

1. Click the Oval button on the Drawing toolbar and then draw an oval shape
around only the purple column representing the third quarter total cassette
sales in the 3-D Column chart.
As soon as you release the mouse button, Excel draws a white oval shape that
obscures the columns representing third and fourth quarter cassette sales.
2. Press Ctrl+1 to open the Format AutoShape dialog box (you can also open it by
clicking the Format Selected Object button on the Chart toolbar).
3. Select No Fill on Color drop-down list in the Fill section on the Color and Lines
tab of the Format AutoShape dialog box.
4. Click the yellow color square on the drop-down palette attached to the Color
drop-down list button in the Line section of the Color and Lines tab and then
increase the line weight to 2 pt in the Weight text box before you select OK.
As soon as the Format AutoShape dialog box closes, you see only the outline of
the oval (with no fill) in yellow.
5. Adjust the position, shape, and size of the oval so that it encircles and highlights
primarily just the 3-D column representing third quarter total cassette sales in
the chart (use Figure 15-6 as a guide).