Anchoring the Position of Unattached Text in Excel Charts

• Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 3.0, 4.0, 4.0a, 5.0
• Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, version 7.0
• Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, versions 3.0, 4.0, 5.0

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Excel, unattached text on a chart may not print in the same location as displayed on the screen. This behavior may occur with labels placed above or on the data markers (for example, labels over columns in a column chart).

MORE INFORMATION

One way to fix the location of text for printing is to make a picture image of your chart and then print the picture. For text that is placed above the data markers, you can add data point values to your chart then replace the numbers with your labels.

It may also help to use the Size On Screen option rather than the Scale To Fit Page, or Use Full Page options in the Page Setup dialog box. These options are available when you choose Page Setup from the File menu with a chart window as the active window.

For embedded charts, it might help to size the chart to fit on one page and then print without scaling. That is, have the Reduce/Enlarge to option in the Page Setup dialog box selected with a value of 100 percent.

To Print a Picture Image of Your Chart

1. Bring your chart up in a chart window.
   
   If your chart is embedded on a worksheet, double-click it to bring it up in a chart window.



2. From the Chart menu, choose Select Chart.



3. Hold down the SHIFT key and choose Copy Picture from the Edit menu.



4. In the Copy Picture dialog box, select the As Shown On Screen option for both Appearance and Size, and then choose the OK button.



5. From the File menu, choose New.



6. In the New dialog box, select New Worksheet from the list, and then choose OK.



7. From the Edit menu, choose Paste.



8. Resize the chart as desired.
   
   NOTE: You may want disable gridline printing by clearing the Cell Gridlines option in the Page Setup dialog box.



9. From the File menu, choose Print.

To Attach Labels to Data Markers (version 5.0)

1. Open the chart in a chart window.



2. Double click the series to which you want to attach data markers.



3. Choose the Data Labels tab in the Format Data Series dialog box.



4. Select either Show Value or Show Label.



5. Choose OK.

To Attach Labels to Data Markers (version 3.0, 4.0)

1. Bring your chart up in a chart window.
   
   If your chart is embedded on a worksheet, double-click it to bring it up in a chart window.



2. From the Chart menu, choose Attach Text.



3. In the Attach Text dialog box, choose the Series And Data Point option.



4. In the Series Number box, type data series number you want to attach the label to.
   
   For more information on data series see pages 401-403 in "Microsoft Excel User's Guide 1," version 4.0.



5. In the Point Number box, type the number of the data point you want to add a label to.



6. Choose the OK button.



7. Microsoft Excel places the value for the specified data point above (or next to, depending on the chart type) the data marker.



8. In the formula bar select the number and delete it, and then type in the label you want attached to this data marker.
   
   Note: You can also enter a reference to a cell on your worksheet if you want to have your attached labels change as information on your worksheet changes. To do this, type an equal sign (=) followed by the cell reference to the label on your worksheet. An easy way to enter the cell reference is to switch to your worksheet and click the cell that contains your label.



9. Repeat steps 1 through 8 until you have attached labels to all the data markers you want labeled.

REFERENCES

"User's Guide 1," version 4.0, pages 400-403, 455-457

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Version : WINDOWS:3.0,4.0,4.0a,5.0,7.0; MACINTOSH:3.0,4.0,5.0
Platform : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
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