For every column chart that is done right, there are a dozen that get messed up. That is why lets talk about 5 simple rules for making awesome column charts.
Tip: Same rules apply for bar charts too.
Rule #1: Start at zero
The first rule is simple. Always start your column charts at zero. When looking at column (or bar) charts, our mind measures height of each column and compares. So, if a column starts at some arbitrary point instead of zero, it can mess with our perception of how each column compares with other. Don’t believe me. See yourself.
Related: What is the most embarrassing charting mistake you made?
Rule #2: Thou shall sort
Sort your columns in a meaningful order. For example, sort them by descending order (of column heights), alphabetical order or chronological order. This will make reading the chart easy.
Rule #3: Slap a title on it
Give your chart a meaningful, clear title. Few examples of good and bad titles shown below.
Rock star tip: Using smart titles & legends in your charts
Rule #4: Axis & Grid-lines vs. Labels
For most charts you can use data labels instead of axis & grid-lines. This will keep the chart clean.
If you choose to go with Axis and gridlines, then make sure they follow below guidelines.
- Axis label text should be relatively small & dull.
- Grid lines & axis line should be dull too.
- Do not display too many or too little major units on axis. You can change major unit size by selecting axis and pressing CTRL+1 (or axis options pane in Excel 2013).
Rule #5: Too much lipstick and you have a pig
Make sure the formatting (colors, fonts, special effects, backgrounds etc.) of your chart are really subtle and meaningful. If you use too many colors, you end up with a pig. People will then focus on all these colors, fonts instead of actual data.
Few ways to add wow factor to your chart without messing it up:
- Highlight a particular column (for example max value, min value etc.) using different series technique.
- Use descriptive titles, clever data labels to show more information.
- Use drawing symbols or shapes to enhance the message of chart.
- Make your chart interactive to give users control.
- Add Emojis even
So there you go. Follow these rules and your column charts will stand tall.
Share your rules for making awesome column charts
While above rules capture the gist of making good looking column charts, there is more to learn and follow. So go ahead and share your rules and tips using comments. Teach us how you make stunning column charts (or bar charts). Post your comments below.
Make charts often? Check out these tips:
If your job involves analyzing & charting data, then check out below tips to learn more.
8 Responses to “Top 5 keyboard shortcuts for Excel Charts”
As far as I remember (checked, again, 2 minutes ago) in my "Excel 2013" in order to select various chart elements I need to use the Arrow keys and not the TAB key.
Practically, the TAB key does nothing (within a Chart).
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Michael (Micky) Avidan
Thanks for pointing this out. This is how I remember it too, but when I was recording the video yesterday, only TAB key worked. MS must have changed the keys in Excel 2016. I have edited the post to include both keys.
The key navigation on charts is different in 2016.
TAB cycles through a layer of objects (SHIFT+TAB cycles backwards)
ENTER move down a layer
ESC moves up a layer
So on a column chart with title/legend/data labels if you select the plotarea the TAB will go through Title > Legend > Plotarea.
ENTER at plotarea will then select Vertical axis. Tab will take you through
Horizontal axis > gridlines > Series > Horizontal Axis.
ENTER with series selected will then allow you to TAB through individual data points and data labels.
If you ENTER on datalabels you can TAB through each data label.
ALT + F1 : to create default chart
ALT+E S T = CTRL + ALT + V, T : I find that easier to remember
I second what Michael already said about TAB and arrow keys. I can't help but think if this is related to the "," or ";" as separator. I prefer to use the chart tools - layout- drop down box, anyway.
Got to be F11 for instant charting. Highlight your data , hit F11 and voila! ?
Ctrl+1 is the most important chart shortcut. In fact, it works for any Excel object: whatever is selected, Ctrl+1 opens the task pane or dialog to format that object.
Somewhere along the line, maybe when Excel 2016 came out, the arrow keys stopped working to cycle through the elements of a chart. But what works is holding Ctrl while clicking the arrow keys. I haven't gotten used to the Tab and other keys, but as long as Ctrl+Arrow works, I'm good.
And F4 used to be so helpful when formatting a lot of charts. But since Excel 2007 came out, it has been mostly useless. It used to remember a whole set of changes at once, so I get that the newer modeless dialogs make that impractical. But now it only seems to work with formatting of lines and borders, and maybe fills. I find myself writing a lot of VBA one-liners in the Immediate Window to handle these tedious formatting tasks.
after clicking on a chart, is there a shortcut key to copy it?
Thank you for the Alt E S T - tip. This is more than a time saver. Because of dynamic charts or de-activated external references to data when you make the charts, you often have empty charts that are otherwise impossible to format. So this shortcut helps adressing that. I will work with it more and see if there remain some obstacles.