Advanced Excel Charts Explained

One of my posts on 9/24/08 had 2 Excel charts showing 12 and 24 month history of condo sales in my area. The charts had some advanced features including a secondary axis, trendlines, line formatting, and a background picture. I received some requests for assistance on how to do this and this post shows the step-by-step process. I'm now using Excel 2007 but decided to do this post using an older version since I think most have not upgraded yet.

Here is a chart from my earlier post and steps used to get there follow. I've kept dialog to a minimum as the screen shots are self-explanatory. Of course there are many ways to do a task and I've picked the methods that were easiest to explain.

Step 1--Prepare the Default Chart

Starting with data such as this, prepare the default chart

The default Excel Chart should look something like this.

Step 2--Customization of the Chart

Select one of the data lines and go to the format tab to specify a secondary axis

It will then look like this

Select a data line again and click the "Chart" menu to add a trendline.

Repeat to get results below

Select data series and go to "Format" to change line style & colors

You will then have this

Select Chart Options to add titles

And finally go to Chart, Source Data to get something meaningful instead of "Series1" and "Series2"

The customized chart below is complete except for background and font sizes.

For even more detail on the above steps, go here

For background formatting, including adding an image to the plot area, see my earlier post here. That will allow you to make your image look like the one below.

Happy Charting To All!

Engineering Hawaii Dreams Today--Helping Buyers Find Dream Homes & Sellers Find Buyers