How do I modify the legend in Excel?

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I want to change the order in which the entries appear in the legend in my
Excel chart. How do I do this without changing my actual data? ( I did a
seach and it said I had to have a program called Visio. Is this correct or
can I modify the legend straight from Excel?) Thanks
 
Go into the chart. Select the series that you want to change. Look at the
command line and you'll need to change the number at the very end. It will
read something like:

=SERIES(Sheet1!$A$3,Sheet1!$B$1:$J$1,Sheet1!$B$3:$J$3,2)

You'll want to change the 2 at the end to say 1. Test it and see what
happens. You can always undo the change if it's not what you want.
 
An alternative to Barb's suggestion: double-click any series. In the
resulting dialog box, click the 'Series order' tab. Adjust the series
order in their using the various buttons.

--
Regards,

Tushar Mehta
www.tushar-mehta.com
Excel, PowerPoint, and VBA add-ins, tutorials
Custom MS Office productivity solutions
 
Unfortunately there are some cases in which you cannot vary the order of
the legend's entries. In a combination column-line chart, for instance,
you can rearrange the column entries amongst themselves, and likewise
the line entries. But you cannot move any of the line series above the
column series. Also, if your series are split between primary and
secondary axes, those on the primary axis will be listed before those on
the secondary axis (subject to the chart type constraint above: primary
and secondary columns are still listed before primary and secondary lines).

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Peltier Technical Services
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
http://PeltierTech.com/
_______
 
Yes, I have a combination line-line chart (one x-axis and two y-axes). The
entries on the first y-axis must be listed in order so they are on the same
axis, and the entries on the second y-axis must be listed together so they
are on the same axis. Unfortunately, the legend makes it look like I did
alternating entries on the different y-axes. If I put the legend on the
right side of the graph it looks OK, but I want the legend on the bottom of
the graph with two columns of data labels (with like data in the same
column), but it puts the data labels alternating, one on the right and one on
the left, instead of straight down. Any suggestions? Thanks
 
Unfortunately you can't tell Excel to list legend entries by column or
by row. If you stretch the legend so it's one row high, does this help
with the arrangement?

What I like to do, if the chart itself isn't too cluttered, is use data
labels to identify the points rather than a legend. The labels are right
there, so you don't force your readers to move their eyes back and forth
to identify the series in the chart. This enables you to expand the
chart into the zone previously reserved for the legend, and adds to the
simplicity of the chart.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Peltier Technical Services
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
http://PeltierTech.com/
_______
 
Thanks for the tips, however, my graph already has 8 sets of data (4 on each
y-axis) so its already quite busy. I cannot make the legend one row high
because it squishes my data too close together to see clearly(regardless if
the legend is on the right, left, or bottom, etc.), hence, I have to put it
separately as a text box I think. There may be no other way. Any
suggestions are helpful tho....
 
What I do -- and have done on a consistent basis -- is to put the
'legend' into textboxes, one per series. That way I can format the
legend to my hearts content (sub/superscript characters, etc). I also
set each textbox the same color as the corresponding series and add an
arrow showing what series corresponds to what textbox. In addition to
formatting each 'legend' differently, I can also position each textbox
independently of the others.

Obviously, this is something that is suited only to a 'final' version
of a chart since arrows and textboxes won't adjust themselves if the
series or the chart size change.

You could also put the information in a 'table' outside the chart --
extending the idea behind
Custom Chart Table
http://www.tushar-mehta.com/excel/newsgroups/data_table/index.htm
--
Regards,

Tushar Mehta
www.tushar-mehta.com
Excel, PowerPoint, and VBA add-ins, tutorials
Custom MS Office productivity solutions
 
I think I may end up having to make several text boxes for my data.
Unfortunately, some of the formatting, especially objects made from the
drawing toolbar, don't copy over when I copy and paste the textbox elsewhere.
Only the letters copy over. Do you know how to copy and paste the entire
textbox, including symbols from the drawing toolbar? Many thanks...
 
How do you put objects from the drawing toolbar (rectangles, etc., I
presume) into a textbox?

If you have formatted individual characters in a textbox (as I do),
they remain formatted if you copy the textbox as a whole. If you copy
just the characters, then yes, the formatting is lost.

Like I said, I do this with the final version of the chart. So, I
don't mind the extra effort needed to achieve the desired
printed/projected effect.


--
Regards,

Tushar Mehta
www.tushar-mehta.com
Excel, PowerPoint, and VBA add-ins, tutorials
Custom MS Office productivity solutions
 
Thanks for posting this suggestion! I knew how to change the series order
using the "Format data series..." option, but I didn't know you could simply
type it in. I was having trouble because Excel was not letting me move a
couple series up or down in the "Series order" tab on a plot with 5 data
series. It also was listing both of the series as "Series1" and not by the
names I had given them. When I checked the number at the end of the command
line for the two problem series, they were 12 and 15. After changing the
numbers for all of the series on my plot to 1 through 5, it now works
correctly.
 
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