creating an xl 2007 chart with transparent markers

7/27/2019 Creating an XL 2007 Chart With Transparent Markers

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Creating an Excel 2007 Chart with Transparent Markers

Excel 2007 offers many chart designs, layouts, and formats. When a chart ina worksheet is selected, the Excel 2007 ribbon displays three chart-specifictabs: Design, Layout, and Format.

The small data set in cells B7:D13 in the illustration below is shown as astandard Excel 2007 column chart. No special selections have been made forthis chart other than to select a particular color scheme from the “ChartStyles” group on the “Chart Tools, Design” tab.

These brief notesdescribe how to modify the default chart to create a simpler custom chart by

selecting from the available Excel 2007 charting tools. The charttransformation involves:

• Changing one of the data series from a column chart type to the area

type.

• Making the data markers (both column and area) transparent.

• Removing the plot area gridlines.

• Moving the legend to beneath the chart and adding a chart title.

• Widening the remaining column markers.



The modified chart will look like this:

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Chart with Transparent Markers

Maintenance R&D

Steps to follow:

1. Change the “Maintenance” Data Series to an Area Chart Type

Click any single column datamarker for the “Maintenance”

data series. Excel selects all thedata markers for this series.

Right-click any selectedMaintenance marker and choose

“Change Series Chart Type…”from the context menu thatdisplays.

From the “Change Chart Type”dialog, choose the simple“Area” chart type. Exceldisplays the chart as a custom type.



2. Make the Data Markers TransparentExcel 2007 makes it easy to make the chart’s data markers display astransparent. Right-click a marker (again, all the markers in that series areautomatically selected) and choose Format Data Series… from the contextmenu that displays. In the “Format Data Series” dialog choose the “Fill”option at left.

For “Fill” choose “Solid fill”. Use the slider to change the “Transparency”effect.

While in this same dialog,choose the “Border Color”option and choose “No

line”.

Follow the same procedure for the other dataseries.

Your chart now might look something like the one atleft.



3. Remove the Plot Area GridlinesGridlines aren’t necessary for this chart. Remove them by right-clicking the Yaxis and choosing Format Major Gridlines… from the context menu that

displays. In the “Format Major Gridlines” dialog, choose “Line Color” from theoptions at left. Select “Solid line” and use the “Color” drop-down to select“White, Background 1”.

Without major gridlines yourchart will look something likethis:

4. Move the Legend The legend is useful but it’s taking upa lot of chart area space.

Move the legend below the Xaxis. You could do this byusing options from Excel’smenus but a simple drag anddrop and resizing works justas well and probably is faster.

You’ll need to resize the plotarea to accommodate the newlegend placement. The plotarea can also be expandedright in the now-empty spacethe legend occupied earlier.



5. Widen the Column Markers There’s nothing wrong with the column markers as they are. But the markerscan be widened a bit to good effect. Right-click any column marker (and all

are selected, as usual). Choose Format Data Series… from the context menuthat displays. In the “Format Data Series” dialog, choose “Series Options”from the items at left. Move the “Gap Width” slider to the left to widen thecolumns/reduce the gap between each column.

Finished ChartWith a chart title added, the finished chart will look something like this:

creating an xl 2007 chart with transparent markers

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