Customize the position of data labels to ensure that your charts are easy to understand. Make sure that your data labels are clearly visible. Data labels ware positioned differently for different types of charts. This article demonstrates how to set label positions in line, area, column, bar, pie, and scatter charts.
Line and Area Chart Labels
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:
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- Choose the label series from the drop-down in the Series section of the Chart Properties panel.
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- Toggle Show Labels to the off position.
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- Then select the specific point in the second drop-down in the Series section.
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- Now toggle Show Labels for this single point.
To set label positions for a series in a line or area chart:
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- Right-click on your chart to open the Chart Properties panel.
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- Go to the Series section.
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- Choose a series to work with from the drop-down menu or click on the series in the chart to activate it.
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- 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.
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 Show Labels to the off position.
- 3
- Then select the specific point in the second drop-down in the Series section.
- 4
- Now toggle Show Labels 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.
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 single 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.
Scatter and Bubble Chart Labels
The labels for scatter and bubble charts can be turned on and off in the Chart Properties panel for all data points in the chart or for each point individually. This can be important if you have clusters of points.
Placement options include Top, Bottom, Left, Right and Middle. This gives you the ability to set the positions for the greatest visibility based on the size, position and color of the data points.
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