Microsoft Excel 2010 Charts Tutorial

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A pivot table is a special type of summary table that’s unique to Excel. Pivot tables are great for summarizing values in a table because they do their magic without making you create formulas to perform the calculations. Pivot tables also let you play around with the arrangement of the summarized data. It’s this capability of changing the arrangement of the summarized data on the fly simply by rotating row and column headings that gives the pivot table its name.

Follow these steps to create a pivot table:

  1. Open the worksheet that contains the table you want summarized by pivot table and select any cell in the table.

    Ensure that the table has no blank rows or columns and that each column has a header.

  2. Click the PivotTable button in the Tables group on the Insert tab.

    Click the top portion of the button; if you click the arrow, click PivotTable in the drop-down menu. Excel opens the Create PivotTable dialog box and selects all the table data, as indicated by a marquee around the cell range.

  3. If necessary, adjust the range in the Table/Range text box under the Select a Table or Range option button.

    If the data source for your pivot table is an external database table created with a separate program, such as Access, click the Use an External Data Source option button, click the Choose Connection button, and then click the name of the connection in the Existing Connections dialog box.

  4. Select the location for the pivot table.

    By default, Excel builds the pivot table on a new worksheet it adds to the workbook. If you want the pivot table to appear on the same worksheet, click the Existing Worksheet option button and then indicate the location of the first cell of the new table in the Location text box.

    Indicate the data source and pivot table location in the Create PivotTable dialog box.
  5. Click OK.

    Excel adds a blank grid for the new pivot table and displays a PivotTable Field List task pane on the right side of the worksheet area. The PivotTable Field List task pane is divided into two areas: the Choose Fields to Add to Report list box with the names of all the fields in the source data for the pivot table and an area divided into four drop zones (Report Filter, Column Labels, Row Labels, and Values) at the bottom.

    New pivot table displaying the blank table grid and the PivotTable Field List task pane.
  6. To complete the pivot table, assign the fields in the PivotTable Field List task pane to the various parts of the table. You do this by dragging a field name from the Choose Fields to Add to Report list box and dropping it in one of the four areas below, called drop zones:

    • Report Filter: This area contains the fields that enable you to page through the data summaries shown in the actual pivot table by filtering out sets of data — they act as the filters for the report. So, for example, if you designate the Year Field from a table as a Report Filter, you can display data summaries in the pivot table for individual years or for all years represented in the table.

    • Column Labels: This area contains the fields that determine the arrangement of data shown in the columns of the pivot table.

    • Row Labels: This area contains the fields that determine the arrangement of data shown in the rows of the pivot table.

    • Values: This area contains the fields that determine which data are presented in the cells of the pivot table — they are the values that are summarized in its last column (totaled by default).

  7. Continue to manipulate the pivot table as needed until the desired results appear.

    Completed pivot table after adding the fields from the employee table to the various drop zones.

Microsoft Excel 2010 allows you to quickly generate reports based on filtered information that is most useful to you. This tutorial will show you the basics of pivot table usage. The data used is based on a salesperson’s first and second quarter sales for a business. Start Microsoft Excel 2010. Creating a chart in Excel starts by entering the data on a worksheet. Then only by selecting the chart type according to your requirement, data can be automatically plotted into a chart. Excel defines the orientation of the data series based on the number of worksheet rows and columns in the chart.

As soon as you create a new pivot table (or select the cell of an existing table in a worksheet), Excel displays the Options tab of the PivotTable Tools contextual tab. Among the many groups on this tab, you find the Show/Hide group that contains the following useful command buttons:

  • Field List to hide and redisplay the PivotTable Field List task pane on the right side of the Worksheet area.

  • +/- Buttons to hide and redisplay the expand (+) and collapse (-) buttons in front of particular Column Fields or Row Fields that enable you to temporarily remove and then redisplay their particular summarized values in the pivot table.

  • Field Headers to hide and redisplay the fields assigned to the Column Labels and Row Labels in the pivot table.

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Using Chart Tools

Charts are easy to format and work with using three chart buttons that appear when you select the chart.

To use the chart tools:

  1. Click the chart you want to work with.
  2. Notice the three buttons that appear next to the chart.
  3. Use the Chart Elements button to quickly work with the legend, data labels, axis titles, and more.
  4. Use the Chart Styles button to change the style and color of your chart.
  5. Use the Chart Filters button to change which data points and names appear in your chart.

Changing the Style of a Chart

  1. Select the chart by clicking on it.
  2. On the Chart Tools Design tab, in the Chart Styles group, click the More button to see all the styles available:
  3. Select an alternative style by clicking on it. The following image shows the style options available for pie charts:

Adding a Shape to a Chart

  1. Select the chart by clicking on it.
  2. On the Chart Tools Format tab (Chart Tools Layout tab in Excel 2010), in the Insert Shapes group (Insert group in Excel 2010), click the More (Shapes in Excel 2010):
  3. Navigate to and select a shape by clicking on it.
  4. Your cursor will change to a plus sign. Click in your chart where you want to place the shape, drag your mouse until the shape is the size you want it to be, and then release your mouse.

Adding a Trendline to a Chart

A visual way to show trends in charts is to add trendlines.

To add a trendline to a chart:

  1. In the chart, select the data series to which you want to add the trendline.
  2. Select the Chart Elements option that appears next to the chart.
  3. Check the Trendline check box. Click the arrow next to Trendline to change trendline options.
  4. Your chart may look like this:

Adding a Secondary Axis to a Chart

You can create a chart with dual axes; that is, add a secondary vertical axis to a chart. This is useful when you have two different types of data you want to display.

To add a secondary axis to a chart:

  1. Click in the chart to display the Chart Tools Design tab.
  2. Select the Design tab, and then from the Type group, select Change Chart Type.
  3. On the left, select Combo.
  4. Under Choose the chart type and axis for your data series, check the check box for the data you want to plot on the secondary axis, and then select Line for the Chart Type. All other data should be Clustered Column. Click OK.

Adding Additional Data Series to a Chart

Add the data to the cells that you selected for the chart, and the chart automatically updates with the new data series.

You can also use the Chart Tools Design tab. In the Data group, select Select Data and then use the options in the Select Data Source dialog box to select the new series.

Switch between Rows and Columns in a Chart

To switch between rows and columns in a chart, follow these steps:

  1. With your chart selected, from the Chart Tools Design tab, in the Data group, select Switch Row/Column.
  2. The row/column display in the chart will change. To revert back, select this option again.

Positioning a Chart

Once the chart is inserted, it is easy to change its position.

To change the position of a chart:

  1. Hover your cursor over the chart until it turns into a four-headed arrow.
  2. Click and drag the chart to the appropriate position.

Modifying Chart and Graph Parameters

To make changes to your chart, use the Chart Elements, Chart Styles, and Chart Filters options. To access these options, click the chart. They will appear next to the chart:

Some of the things you can use Chart Elements to do include:

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  1. Add or remove gridlines.
  2. Add or remove titles.
  3. Display table data.
  4. Add error bars.

Some of the things you can use Chart Styles to do include:

  1. Change the color of the chart.
  2. Change the style of the chart.

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Some of the things you can use Chart Filters to do include:

Microsoft Excel 2010 Charts Tutorial

  1. Filter your data by categories.
  2. Filter your data by series.

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