One of the annoyances of charts is that they all look like boxes (except for pie charts, they just look wrong). Boxes might be ok when you are making 1 or 2 charts. But a whole dashboard of boxes can look little rigid. So how can we make the charts peppy without loosing any effect? Like these charts below:
![Use Shapes and Images make Prettier Charts [Dashboard Tricks]](https://chandoo.org/img/c/pretty-charts-with-shapes.png)
Very simple, we use drawing shapes in MS Excel to draw whatever we want and overlay the chart on top.
See this 3 step tutorial.
Step 1: Make the chart
This is simple, just make the chart and remove the background color. Also adjust series colors so that they look good when you combine the chart with drawing shape.
Step 2: Make the drawing
Go to Insert > Shapes (in excel 2003, select drawing toolbar and draw a shape) and insert some shapes. Arrange them so that you get desired effect.
Step 3: Put Chart on top of Drawing
This is simple. Just drag the chart on to the shape (s). If needed “send shapes to background”. That is all.
Download Example Charts
Click on these links to download example charts – Excel 2007 | Excel 2003
There are millions of possibilities when using shapes. Try something new for your next dashboard or report.
Note: Shapes can add clutter if you overdo them. Remember, the purpose is to let readers focus on the chart, not on shapes.
Additional material on excel dashboards.
7 Responses to “Extract data from PDF to Excel – Step by Step Tutorial”
Dear Chandoo,
Thank you very much for this and it is very helpful.
However, all the Credit Card Statements are now password protected.
Please advise how can we have a workaround for that
Hello sir,
How to check two names are present in the same column ?
Thanks and Regards
Hi, Thank you for the great tip. One problem, when I click on get data >> from file, I don't see the PDF source option. How can I add it?
I tried to add it from Quick Access toolbar >>> Data Tab, but again the PDF option is not listed there.
I am using Office 365
Hi, Thank you for your video. I see you used the composite table, but I when I load my pdf, it does not load any composite table. It has 20 tables and 4 pages for one bank statement. I have about 30 bank statements that I want to combine. Your video would work except that I can't get the composite table and each of the tables I do get or the pages does not have all the info. what to do?
Dear Chandoo,
How do we select multiple amount of tables/pages in one PDF and repeat the same for rest of the PDF;s in the same folder and then extract that data only on power query.
Thank you
Hi, Thank you for your video. I see you used the composite table, but I when I load my pdf, it does not load any composite table. It has 20 tables and 4 pages for one bank statement. I have about 30 bank statements that I want to combine. nice share
One bank statement takes up 20 tables and four pages in this document. I need to consolidate roughly thirty different bank statements that I have. Your video would be useful if I could only get the composite table, which I can't for some reason, and each of the tables or pages that I can get is missing some information.