Inserting Excel chart elements – how do I add more detail and explanation to my charts? Watch the video to learn more
This week’s hint and tip is about how to add chart elements to your charts in Excel. This is on our Intermediate Excel training course and it covers how to add them and it goes through what kinds are available to add. We are going to go through it now below.
Two ways to add chart elements to your chart
There are two ways in which you can add chart elements to your chart. Neither are right or wrong ways, it is just down to personal preference. In some older versions of Excel you will only be able to use the add chart elements option on your ribbon.
The first way is to select your chart and go to the Chart Design Tab at the top. On the left hand side of the ribbon there will be a button called ‘Add Chart Element’, click on this button. A drop down menu will appear with all the chart elements that you can add to your chart.
The second way is to select your chart and then click on the + button in the top right hand corner of your chart. This is your ‘Chart Elements’ option and when you click on this button a small menu will appear. This menu will have tick boxes next to the chart elements that you can add to your chart. Tick the box to add the option in its default settings. If you want something specific, click on the little black arrow next to the element. This will bring up options that you can pick from the list that appears.
Chart Elements
There are a lot of chart elements that you can add to your chart. You won’t necessarily need to add all of them to your chart. The ones you add will depend on the chart you are creating and how you want it to look.
The video below shows you how to add chart elements to your charts in Excel. Chart elements are an important part in chart creation as they give explanation and description to your charts when presenting to others.
Take a look below at the video to find out more and then try it out on your own computer!
We hope you have enjoyed this hint and tip on inserting Excel chart elements, why not take a look at our previous one on inserting charts in Excel?