Excel Annoyances

CHART MANIPULATION ANNOYANCES

COPY CHARTS AS PICTURES

The Annoyance:

I want to include one of my charts in a Word document, but not as a full-blown chart someone can edit. I want to include just a picture of the chart. Is there a way to do that?

The Fix:

There is, but you won’t find it on any of the standard Excel menus. Not many people know you can get at some alternative menu commands if you hold down the Shift key when you open a menu. That’s what you’ll do here:

1. Select the chart.

2. Hold down the Shift key and choose Edit → Copy Picture, then select the “As shown on screen” and Picture radio buttons. Click OK.

3. Go to your Word document and select Edit → Paste.

MOVE A CHART TO A SEPARATE SHEET

The Annoyance:

I created a chart and left it on the worksheet that supplied the data—which I’m beginning to think was a mistake. I have to drag the chart around to look at my data! Is it too late to move the chart to its own sheet?

The Fix:

To move a chart to its own sheet, right-click any spot in the Chart Area, choose Location, and select the radio button for “As new sheet.” Then name the sheet if you want (otherwise, it comes up as Chart1) and click OK to move the chart. The Chart Area is any part of the chart that isn’t claimed by the values on an axis, the legend, or the plot in the middle of your chart. If your chart has a legend, plenty of Chart Area space usually is available above or below it (as shown in Figure 5-16).

In any event, just move your pointer around on the chart; ...