The following is the list of queries addressed in this article:
- How to customize the formatting options in the chart?
- How to save the chart as a template and re-use it in any other Excel file?
- How to modify the colors for positive and negative variances?
How to customize the formatting options in the chart?
How to save the chart as a template and re-use it in any other Excel file?
Now, follow the steps below:
1. Right-click on the chart and select "Save as Template"
This opens a dialog box, assign a name to your chart template, and click "Save". This saves the chart in a .crtx format
2. From our Instant Chart Maker file, Copy the data table (CTRL+C) and paste it (CTRL+V) into your chosen Excel file.
3. Enter your information in the data table. Add or remove rows as needed. Please note that green colored columns are calculated columns - do not enter any data, they are automatically calculated based on the input columns (Blue colored)
4. Select the columns required to build the chart, for this choose - the category (here, Department) and the Variance (green colored calculated) columns in that order with the headers.
5. Go to Insert and choose to see All Recommended Charts
This opens up a dialog box, go to All Charts and click on the Templates folder. Here, you'll find all the charts you have saved in step 1, choose the one that is relevant to the data and click "Ok".
6. That's it, your chart gets populated with the data from your Excel file and is totally independent of the Instant Chart Maker template file.
- Chart title and Axis titles: Using a saved template to build your chart does not usually bring the Chart title and axis titles. Read this article to add these elements to your chart.
How to modify the colors for positive and negative variances?
1. Click on chart, press CTRL+1to open format pane
2. From the drop-down, choose the Variance series
3. Under Fill & Line, change the color of the positive and/or negative series as need be:
With this, your variance chart would look like this:
