To ensure that your charts are easy to understand, you can customize the position of data labels so that they are clearly visible. This article demonstrates how to set label positions in charts.
Show a Single Point Label
To emphasize a specific data point by showing a label for a single point in your line or area chart, use the settings available in the Chart Properties panel:
- 1
- Choose the label series from the drop-down in the Series section of the Chart Properties panel.
- 2
- Toggle the Show Labels slider to the off position.
- 3
- Then select the specific point in the second drop-down in the Series section.
- 4
- Now toggle the Show Label slider for this single point.
If you are working with an area chart, the same label options are available. Check to see that your labels are visible against any shaded areas.
Line and Area Chart Labels
To set label positions for a single series in a line or area chart, right-click on your chart to open the Chart Properties panel. Go to the Series section and choose a series to work with from the drop-down menu. You can also click on the series in the chart to activate it.
Then use the Placement drop-down to select the position of the data labels in relation to the data point.
To set labels positions for all of your data points at the same time, select All Series from the Series drop-down and then choose your desired position from the Placement drop-down.
Column and Bar Chart Labels
If you select All Series for a column, bar, combo or waterfall chart, the data labels will be placed automatically. If you select a particular series, the label position options include Outside End, Inside End, Center and Inside Base.
For stacked column and bar charts, you can set the data label positions independently for each series. Click on the series in your chart or select the series from the Placement drop-down menu in the Chart Properties panel. For Combo charts, adjust each series to ensure the best visibility for the data labels.
For waterfall charts, you can set data label position for the columns that aggregate separately from the label for the final column for the total. Use the drop down menu to select the series or the total to set the data label positions.
Pie and Doughnut Chart Labels
In pie and doughnut charts, all labels are positioned outside of the pie with a connector to each slice individually. Label positions move with the rotation of the chart using the Pie Rotation control in the Chart properties panel.
As you adjust the Pie Size, the length of the connectors change automatically. You can also adjust the information shown in the data labels by using the sliders for Name, Value and Percent. The data labels can also be formatted using the Separator and Distance settings.
