How to Use Excel’s Chart Tools for Reporting
In preparing a report, it is important to use Microsoft Excel’s Chart Tools to graph data issues in a more appealing manner. This makes complex data easier to interpret and understand. Excel offers different types of charts that can be customized by the user to better show trends, differences in values, or insights into any given information. Here’s how to effectively use Excel Chart Tools for reporting in a step-by-step manner.
1. Understand Your Data and Objectives
But first, what are you doing the report for? What kind of data do you have? What information do you want to communicate? Ask yourself questions like:
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Are you showing trends over time?
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Do you need to compare categories or show relationships?
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Do you need a distribution or part-to-whole comparison?
Those answers will tell you which chart type to select and how to go about creating your chart
2. Choice of the Best Chart Type
Excel presents several kinds of charts and every has a different fit for use when visualizing data types
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Line chart: Good chart for tracking how some quantity changes over time
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Column and bar charts: The best when comparing quantities across categories.
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Pie chart: Suitable when it’s meaningful to show how every category of the whole adds up in making contributions to the total. It is usually seldom used.
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Scatter plot: Use when you want to show interaction patterns between variables.
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Pivot Charts: These are interactive charts whereby users can apply filters and adjust data; used with Pivot Tables.
To create a chart, follow these steps:
Step 1: Select data for charting.
Step 2: Open the Insert tab.
Step 3: Select a preferred chart type in the Charts group.
3. Formatting and Adjusting Charts
Once you have created your chart, the Excel Chart Tools enable you to modify it to match your theme and your requirements for your report. There are two main tabs in this section: Design and Format.
Design Tab
The Design tab is related to the general form of your chart. Some of your main choices include the following:
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Chart Styles: You could use any style, therefore your chart will look perfect. Try out different coloured combinations which you are taking and then match them in accordance with the theme which you want for your report.
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Switch Row/Column: In case your graph still seems to be askew, then you will have the option to exchange your data to y-axis/x-axis or vice versa for it to be straight once again.
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Choose Data: Use this feature in order to select or unselect data points so you only see information that may interest you the most. You also use this to change data ranges or updating series names.
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Chart Layouts: This button uses you to choose different layouts of charts by adding/removing the following elements – chart title, data labels or legends.
Format Tab
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Shape Fill, Outline, and Effects: Change the appearance of bars, lines, background regions of your chart.
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Text Options: Change the style, size, colour to suit the readability of the labels, axes, and titles of your chart.
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Alignment Tools: Align the legend or title of a chart for neat balanced looks in alignment tools.
4. Adding Data Labels and Legends
Data labels help to make your graph look more readable as they are adding some extra context over each piece of data. You can add data labels using the following steps:
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Choose a chart.
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Click on Chart element
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Check data labels to add values directly to data points.
5. Using Chart Filters to Narrow Down Relevant Data
Through chart filters, you shall be able to filter some data points to view a specific category or value, depending on your need from the dataset. It has been very convenient especially whenever you are using charts with the intention of breaking through complex ones. Here, let’s learn how chart filters can be used for example:
1. Open any chart and use the drop-down button located on the rightmost side of that chart to avail yourself to get the Chart Filters.
2. Click on the data series or categories for the data that you wish to appear on the chart and clear the check boxes for the series or categories that you do not wish.
6. Creating Combination Charts
A combination chart is useful for plotting more than one series of data, using scales for each. You could plot revenue in a column and profit margin as a line. To make a combination chart, do the following:
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Choose your data.
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Go to the insert tab and select the combo chart option
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Select the combination type, for example, clustered column-line, and then select each data series to the type of chart you want.
7. Adding trandlines and Forecasting
You have data that changes over time. The addition of a trendline can be helpful in predicting future trends or patterns. To add a trendline:
1. Click on a data series in your chart.
2. Click on the Chart Elements button, and then check Trendline.
3. Choose the type of chart from those listed: linear, exponential, moving average, or another type that might be available depending on your data.
8. Save Chart Templates to Make It Easy to Be Consistent
If you use the same type of chart frequently, it can really improve your productivity to save a template for later. Here’s how:
1. Do your chart anyway you like it.
2. Right click on it and choose Save as Template.
3. Whenever you create a chart apply this template using the Change Chart Type option for an appearance of standard reports.
9. Exporting and Sharing Charts
You might want to insert your chart for use in presentation, including it in reports, or as part of dashboards. You can paste Excel charts easily from Microsoft Office into applications like Word or PowerPoint. Or else you save the chart as a picture:
1. Click on the chart.
2. Save as Picture and select the file format that you want, such as PNG or JPEG.
Conclusion
With Excel’s Chart Tools, you can really add some dramatic punch to your presentation of data, and make it much more accessible in reports. You will easily transform raw data into meaningful visualizations telling a story and practice support data-driven decision-making.