iWork '09: The Missing Manual

Formatting Charts

With your chart data organized and labeled, you’re finally ready to apply the wow factor to your chart. The graph that you get when Numbers first adds a chart to your spreadsheet is just a starting point—you can alter the appearance of just about every chart element. Like any other object in a Numbers document, you can resize, reposition, or rotate charts, adjust their opacity, and so on. But charts also get privileged treatment in Numbers, with formatting options that other objects don’t have: Spin your data in space with 3D effects, add colors and effects to individual chart elements, make pie slices explode from the center, and fine-tune the position of bars and columns. This section tells you how.

Tip

The Chart Inspector and the Graphic Inspector have most of the controls for formatting a chart’s appearance, and you may find it handy to have both open at once: Open one Inspector, and then Option-click one of the Inspector buttons at the top of its window to display another. Or choose View → New Inspector when you already have at least one Inspector window open.

Adding 3D Effects

Numbers lets you display your chart as a 3D diorama for your data, offering a slick presentation with a variety of textures that make the chart look like a physical object, with weight and presence. Eight of Numbers’ chart types are available in 3D versions. (Sorry, scatter charts, mixed charts, and two-axis charts do not offer 3D versions.)

When you select a 3D chart, the Chart Inspector’s ...