Creating Charts in Excel

Multiple Series

As stated earlier, a series is the columns or rows of values that you select to be plotted in the chart. For some charts you may want to select more that one series to plot. In the example below, we want to plot the M & M totals for all the members in the group. This means that each member of the group would create a new series, giving us a total of five series.

• Highlight the data you want to plot.

  

• Click on Insert>Chart, or click on the Chart Wizard button.

  

• Select a Chart type in the Chart Wizard.
• Select a Chart sub-type.
  We selected a standard column chart.
• Click Next.
• Click on the Series tab in the next window of the dialog box.
• Rename your series so that they reflect the information in your chart.
  The series in our chart correlate with the members of our group. Therefore, we renamed each series so that it reflected the appropriate group member.
• Click on Next.

  

• Click on the Title tab.
• Select a Title for your chart.
• Select titles for your x- and y-axes.

  

• Click on the other tabs to continue formatting your chart options. a. Axes: chose what categories and information you want displayed on your x- and y-axes b. Gridlines: display the major and minor gridlines for the x- and y-axes on your chart c. Legend: chose if and/or how you want the chart legend displayed d. Data Labels: decide what data you want labeled e. Data Table: decide if you want a data table displayed with your chart
• Click on Next when done.

  

• Select where you want to place your chart.
• Title your chart. We chose to place our chart on a separate sheet and titled that sheet "Group's M&M's."
• Click on Finish.

  

• Excel will complete the chart and store it as a separate sheet in your workbook.
• As a precaution, save your work.