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Examine the following PivotChart and accompanying Field List carefully.

This chart shows the profit for each salesman, broken down by product type. Another way to
think of it is to say Value Field for each Axis Field, broken down by Legend Field.
Now, suppose that you wanted to see the profit generated by each product type, broken down
by salesman. Since we still want to analyze profit, the Profit field can remain where it is in the
Values box:

Because we want to see the profit for each product, we should place the Product field in the
Axis Fields box:

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And finally, because we want the profit for each product type broken down across salesman,
we should drag the Salesman field to the Legend Fields area:

Basically, we have just switched the positions of the Salesman field and the Product field from
where they were before. Here is the resulting PivotChart.

The chart shows the profit for each product type, broken down across salesman.
Now, suppose that we want to see the profit for each salesman and for each region, broken
down across customers. Because we want to see profit for each region and for each salesman,
we should chart the region labels and salesman labels on the bottom (X axis).

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To start, we will clear all of the existing data from the chart by clearing the checkboxes in the
Field List. Next, we will drag the Region and Salesman fields into the Axis Fields box in the Field
List:

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Because we want to break the profit data down across customers, we should drag the
Customer field into the Legend Fields box:

And finally, because we want to analyze profit data, we should put the profit field into the
Values box:

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As you can see, you can place more than one field at a time in an area box. You can do this
when pivoting data in a PivotTable as well.

Now, let’s have a look at the X axis of the resulting PivotChart.

Here you can see that the chart shows profit for each salesman and for each region. You should
notice how the salesman are grouped according to the region they work in. (For example, you
can see that A Smith and B Doe both operate in the East and in the Northeast.)
If you look at the Axis Fields box, you will see that Region is above Salesman in the list:

You can drag the Region field down lower in the box, so that it appears below the Salesman
field:

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Now, you will see these fields grouped differently in the PivotChart:

The Regions are now grouped according to Salesman; in other words, Region is now a sub-
group of Salesman. Basically, the Field that appears first in the Axis Fields box will be the top
level group. The field that appears second will be a subgroup.

You can change the relative position of fields in the same box by dragging, or by clicking the
small arrow associated with a field and selecting the appropriate option:

Notice that you can also remove a field from the PivotChart with the Remove Field command.

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Basically, pivoting data in a PivotChart is very similar to pivoting data in a PivotTable. You
should keep in mind however, that the results you get when pivoting data in a PivotChart will
also depend on the specific chart type that you are using.

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Lesson 3.2: Using the PivotChart Tools Tabs

Excel 2010 provides quite a variety of options to help you manage, format, move, pivot, and
control your PivotChart. Most of these options are in the PivotChart Tools contextual tabs:

The PivotChart Tools are organized on four tabs:
 Design
 Layout
 Format
 Analyze

This lesson will provide an overview of the tools on each of these tabs.

Using the Design Tab

The Design tab looks like this:

Like the options on the other Excel tabs, these PivotChart tools are grouped according to
function. On the Design tab, the groups are:

 Type
 Data
 Chart Layouts
 Chart Styles
 Location

The names of these groups are generally indicative of the function of the options that belong to
them. Let’s start with the Type group.

The Change Chart Type command lets you choose what type of PivotChart to display in your
workbook. This option will display a dialog with a side panel listing the different categories of
charts that are available. In the large (scrollable) main area of the dialog, each subtype of chart
that belongs to a given category will be displayed as a thumbnail image.

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Here’s an example:

When you first display this dialog, the type of PivotChart that you are currently using will be
highlighted. In the example above, the current chart is a Column chart. The particular variety of
column chart is highlighted in the main area.
You can access different chart types by selecting the categories in the list on the left, or by
scrolling over the chart thumbnails in the large main area of the dialog. To select any given
chart type, click on the thumbnail to highlight it.
Next in the Type group is the Save As Template command:

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If you click this button, a Save Chart Template navigation dialog will appear:

From this window you can save the current chart type as a template for later use. Just enter a
name for the template and click the Save button. The chart type, formatting, layout, and style
information will all be saved as a template in the default Microsoft Templates folder. You can
then apply the saved template to other PivotCharts whenever you like.
The next group of options on the Design tab is the Data group:

The first tool in this group is Switch Row/Column, which will switch the positions of the fields in
your chart. (Axis Fields will be switched with the Legend Fields. Just imagine switching the
positions of the row and column labels in a PivotTable.)

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The other option (Select Data) in the Data group can be used to change the range of data that a
chart is based on. However, it is used primarily with standard charts and its functionality can be
limited with PivotCharts.

The next group on the Design tab is Chart Layouts:

This is essentially a thumbnail gallery for a variety of chart layouts. Click a thumbnail to change
the layout, or view the full gallery by clicking the More arrow on the right side of the group:

The thumbnails will look different depending on what type of PivotChart (column, bar, pie, and
so on) that you are working with. Note that choosing a new layout options will not change the
data or the positions of the fields with respect to the chart’s X or Y axis. The different layouts
will simply offer different dimensions of the chart (length and width) or provide different
spacing, size, and placement arrangements for the chart elements.

Next on the design tab, you will find the Chart Styles group:

This group offers thumbnails of various chart styles; just click a thumbnail to apply it. A style is a
preset combination of borders, shading, font, and color scheme options that you can apply to
your PivotChart to make it more visually interesting. The styles do not change the relationships
between the fields and data in your PivotChart, or the basic layout of the chart (size and
spacing); rather, the style options will give the PivotChart a more finished or polished
appearance.

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Like other galleries that we have looked at, you can click the More arrow to view the full range
of options:

It is important to note that these thumbnail previews will change to reflect the type of chart
you are working with. (The thumbnails in the image above are provided for a column based
PivotChart.)
The final option on the Design tab is Move Chart:

When you click this button, a Move Chart dialog will appear:

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Here you can choose any of the existing sheets in your workbook (“Object in” radio button), or
on a new worksheet (“New Sheet” radio button).

Using the Layout Tab

Our next tab is Layout:

The first group on the Layout tab is Current Selection:

The combo box in the Current Selection group will display the PivotChart element that is
currently selected (the chart area in this case). You can select various chart elements by clicking
on them in the chart itself, or by clicking the menu and choosing an element:

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Once you select a chart element, you can click Format Selection to display more options for
formatting the selected element.

If you click Reset to Match Style the selected chart element will revert to the default formatting
for the overall style that has been applied to the rest of the chart.

The next group is Insert:

You can use these buttons to insert a picture (like a company logo), select from a wide range of
shapes (to highlight important data), or add a text box (for extra chart information).

The next group of tools is Labels:

These options let you configure the labels for each element of your chart. To configure the label
for a given element, click the element name and then choose the desired configuration.

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For example, if we click Chart Titles, we will see these options:

Note the More Title Options command, which opens the Format Chart Title dialog.
The next group is Axes:

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The Axes command lets you independently modify the horizontal and vertical axes of your
chart:

The Gridlines command will allow you to add or remove gridlines and specify major and/or
minor gridlines. Gridlines can make it easier to estimate the quantities represented in column
or bar charts:

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Next we have the Background group:

These options will allow you to modify the background fill and floor of a 3-D PivotChart. They
will also let you modify the background of the plot area on a standard two dimensional
PivotChart. The options that are available in this group will depend largely on the type of chart
(3-D or 2-D) and the style of chart.

The Analysis group can be useful to clarify and interpret your charted data:

These controls can indicate trends and patterns in your data and also provide some statistical
indicators. The Trendline options can show an average direction or trend in a particular group
of data, while the Lines menu lets you add or remove Drop Lines or High/Low lines.

Up/Down Bars show the growth or shrink of a series of data. Finally, Error Bars indicate error
ranges for your charted data that can be measured as standard error, percentage (5%), or as a
standard deviation (a measure of the general dispersion of data around the average).

Once again, the options available in this group will depend on the type of PivotChart (line,
column, pie, etc.) that you are using.

Finally, in the Properties group, you can change the name of your PivotChart.

To change the chart name, just click in the box and type. This can be a useful option for
identifying PivotCharts if you haves multiple PivotCharts (or other charts) in the same
workbook.

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Using the Format Tab

The PivotChart Tools – Format tab provides even more controls for modifying the look and feel
of your PivotChart:

The first group is Current Selection, which works the same as the Current Selection group on
the Layout tab:

These controls allow you to select individual elements of your PivotChart. (Remember, you can
also select chart elements by clicking on them in the chart itself.)

The Shape Styles group allows you to modify the border color and style, background color, and
3-D effects of the selected chart element:

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You can choose to apply a pre-defined style or modify each component separately. If you click
the option button in the lower right corner of the tool group, a dialog will appear that will
provide even more options for modifying the selected chart element:

The next group of options is the WordArt Styles group:

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Once again, you can choose to apply a pre-defined style:

There are also controls for modifying the font and outline color and for adding text effects:

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If you click the options button in the lower right of the group, the Format Text Effects dialog will
open. As you might have guessed, this dialog gives you finer control over the color, fill, style,
and other aspects of WordArt:

The Arrange group lets you work with various objects in the chart area. You can use these
commands to decide how objects in the chart will be positioned:

The options that are available in this group will depend on the presence of other objects in your
chart (like shapes). If objects overlap, you can decide which is on top of the other using the
Bring Forward and Send Backward commands.

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The Selection Pane lets you select which entities to work with in a worksheet. You can also
make objects visible or hidden by clicking the eye icon:

You can line items in the chart up with the Align command. As well, you can use the Group
command to group several objects together as one, making them easier to work with. There is
also an option to rotate objects in the chart if you so desire.
Finally, we have the Size group:

You can adjust the width and height of the current chart or chart object using the small arrows
provided (for small incremental changes) or by entering size values directly into the textboxes.

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Clicking the option button will open the Format Chart Area dialog box with the Size category
displayed:

Using the Analyze Tab
The final PivotChart Tools tab is Analyze:

The other PivotChart tabs are also available as standard chart tools, but the Analyze tab is
unique to PivotCharts. At this point the idea of PivotTables, PivotCharts, and the general
concept of pivoting data should not be strange to you. You can probably guess the functions of
a few of these options just from their names!
The first group is Active Field:

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The textbox shows the currently selected field. In this case, the active field is Region. Here is the
chart axis showing the labels for this field:

If we click Collapse Entire Field, the region labels will collapse, and the X axis of the PivotChart
will look like the following:

To see the Region labels again, we would click Expand Entire Field. The chart axis would return
to its original state.
The next group is Data:

Insert Slicer is used for creating PivotChart Slicers. (You might remember Slicers from Lesson
2.5: powerful tools that can help you cut to the heart of your data.)
The Refresh button will update your PivotChart with any changes made to the underlying
source data. If your source data changes frequently, be sure to use the Refresh command
regularly.
The Clear button provides two options. The first option, Clear All, will clear all of the fields from
the PivotChart, leaving an empty chart area. The second option, Clear Filters, will remove any
filters that you have applied to the fields in the PivotChart.

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The next group is Show/Hide:

If the PivotChart Field List is hidden, the Field List button will display it. The Field Buttons
options will allow you to display or hide various commands on your PivotChart.

You can specify which buttons you want to appear in the PivotChart by selecting or de-selecting
items in the list.

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Here is a basic PivotChart:

Here is the PivotChart after turning off Axis and Value field buttons:

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Lesson 3.3: Formatting a PivotChart

So far, most of the PivotCharts we have seen have been in the form of column charts with a
basic layout and simple formatting. Now it is time to learn how to change the appearance of a
PivotChart to improve visual interest, and create a more professional, polished look.

Renaming Fields
When you create a PivotChart (or a PivotTable) in Excel, the column headings in the region of
source data will be used as the field names for the chart or table in the Field List.
Here are the column headings in the source data table:

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And the following image shows them in the PivotTable Field List as field names:

If you change a column heading (a field name) in the source data and then refresh the
PivotChart or PivotTable, the new column name will be updated in the Field List. However, the
labels associated with the old field name may disappear from your chart. In this case, you will
have to re-add the updated field to the chart.

Another option for changing the names of fields in a PivotChart is to right-click on a field and
click Field Settings:

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Then the Field Settings dialog will appear:

In the dialog’s Custom Name box, enter the name that you want for the given field. In this case,
we changed the name from Salesman to Sales Person. When you click OK, the change will be
implemented.

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Note that when you change a field name in this way, the change does not propagate back to
the source data:

Changing the Chart Type
When you create a PivotChart in Excel, the default setting is a basic column chart:

If this basic chart type shows the information you want to convey in a way that best suits your
needs, then by all means stick with it. However, you shouldn’t feel limited to any single chart
design. Excel provides a wide range of chart types that you can use for your PivotChart, plus it is
really easy to change from one chart type to another.

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To change your PivotChart type, click Design → Change Chart Type:

(You can also find this option on the right-click menu.) Now we will see the Change Chart Type
dialog:

The thumbnail that is highlighted in the dialog corresponds to your current chart type. To
switch to another chart type, just click on another thumbnail and click OK.
When you choose a chart type for your PivotChart, it is wise to consider the quantity and type
of data that you are presenting. It is possible that a given chart type may not be well suited to
your goal of showing the information clearly. You should always try to find a chart type that is
easy to understand, and that clearly shows any trends or patterns that you are trying to
communicate.

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A simple column chart, for example, is ideal for comparing various levels of some value over a
changing variable. A good example is the levels of units sold over different sales regions:

Another, perhaps even better way to show this kind of relative comparison would be with a pie
chart:

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The chart types that are offered in the Change Chart Type dialog include:
 Column Charts
 Line Charts
 Pie Charts
 Bar Charts
 Area Charts
 X Y Scatter Charts
 Stock Charts
 Surface Charts
 Doughnut Charts
 Bubble Charts
 Radar Charts

Each one of these chart types will typically have two or more versions or sub-types available.
That’s a lot of charts to choose from! When it comes to PivotCharts though, there are some
limitations: you cannot apply the Bubble, X Y Scatter, or Stock chart types to PivotTable data.

Have a look at the following fancy PivotChart:

The chart looks good superficially, but can you really get any meaning out of it in terms of what
the data is telling you?

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Now look at the same information depicted as a simple column PivotChart:

Which chart is easier to understand?

Keep in mind that the purpose of any chart is to make it easier to see and understand what is
happening with the data. If you are changing chart types, make sure that you are making things
clearer and not more confusing. This is especially true of PivotCharts, because as you pivot the
data, the trends, patterns, or relationships displayed in the chart can change.

If you find a chart type that you think works well, you can set it as the default chart type by
selecting it in the Change Chart Type dialog and then clicking the Set as Default button. When
you click OK, your selection will become the new default chart type.

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Here we have chosen a simple Bar chart type as the default:

Now, when a new PivotChart is created in Excel, it will be created as a bar chart:

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Applying a Chart Style
The Design tab features a gallery of pre-designed PivotChart styles:

A style is simply a preset combination of borders, shading, font, and color scheme options that
you can apply to your PivotChart to make it more visually interesting. Although a style is applied
to a chart type to enhance the appearance of the PivotChart, it will not change the fundamental
structure or organization of the PivotChart.

Basically, there are numerous preset styles that you can apply to each of the different chart
types. Taken together, the chart type option and the style option offer a multitude of different
choices for how to present your PivotChart.

To apply a style to your PivotChart, click in the chart and then choose the Design tab. You can
scroll through the Chart Styles gallery with the small arrow buttons:

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You can also display the full gallery by clicking the More arrow ( ):

The thumbnails that appear in the menu will reflect the type of the PivotChart to which you are
applying the style. In the above example, the PivotChart is a column type, so the thumbnails
show what the style would look like on that type of chart.

Here is the same preview menu, but the PivotChart in question is now a bar chart:

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To apply a style, just click a thumbnail. The style will be applied immediately to your PivotChart:

Remember to try to choose a style that helps to demonstrate what your PivotChart is about.
The purpose of these tools is to make data easier to understand.
Manually Formatting Chart Elements
There are still more tools in Excel 2010 that that can be used to change the appearance of a
PivotChart! On the PivotChart Tools – Format tab, there are a number of options that enable
you to manually format individual parts of the PivotChart.

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The following PivotChart is a standard column type:

Now, we’ll click in the chart and click PivotChart Tools – Format:
Now, click directly on a chart element to select it. The element that you have selected will be
displayed in the Current Selection box:

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Alternatively, for a more precise way of selecting a chart element, you can click the Current
Selection box and then click an element:

When a chart element is selected, it will have selection markers around its perimeter:

Once you’ve selected the element you want, you can manually format it by using the tools on
the Format tab. Let’s say that you want to add shading to the selected element.

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To do this, click the Shape Fill command:

Now, click on one of the color swatches to fill the selected element with that color:

Now let’s click in the main center area of the chart, to select the plot area:

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Next, we will add a fill color as before:

Now the Plot area is shaded:

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Next, we will display the Shape Fill options again and choose Gradient:

This will display another submenu containing gradient thumbnails:

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Here are the results:

You can also manually apply an outline to the selected chart element using the options on the
Shape Outline menu:

First, you can change the color of the outline by clicking on one of the swatches provided in the
menu.

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There is also an option for weight (thickness of the lines):

In the following image, a 4.5 point outline has been applied to the selected area:

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In addition to the fill and outline options, there are also Shape Effects that you can manually
apply:

Each of the options on the Shape Effects menu contains a submenu with more choices. If you
let your mouse pointer hover over a thumbnail, you will see what the effect would look like if
applied to the selected chart element.

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The following image shows what our original PivotChart looks like with a Glow effect applied,
along with the fill and gradient effects:

Remember, you can manually add effects like this to any of the chart elements that can be
individually selected.
In the following example, fill, outline, and shape effects have been added to the Sum of Profit
series:

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Any time that you select an element in a chart, you can right-click to see a context menu for
that element. In the menu, you will see an option to open the Format dialog for the given
element.

For example, here is the format option when you select and right-click on the Y Axis of the
chart:

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Here is the resulting dialog:

As you can see, fill, lines, and other effects can be accessed from these contextual dialogs.
However, the options here are more advanced and allow you to fine-tune each setting.

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Changing the Layout of Chart Elements

We have seen how to apply a style to a PivotChart, change the chart type, and manually format
selected chart elements. Now it is time to look at how to change the layout of the PivotChart
elements.

The first step is to click in the chart and click the PivotChart Tools – Layout tab:

Each one of the controls in the Labels, Axes, and Background groups will have a sub menu of
further options that lets you customize the layout of that element. The best way to understand
these options is by taking a look at what happens to a PivotChart when they are selected.

Here is a basic column PivotChart:

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