Creating Custom Chart Formats

Summary: When you create a chart in Excel, you can spend quite a bit of time getting the look just the way you want. Don't let that work go to waste; save the chart format under a custom name, as described in this tip. (This tip works with Microsoft Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, and Excel 2003.)

There may be times when the built-in chart formats just don't meet your needs. In these instances, you can always make any changes desired to your chart and then save all the chart settings as a user-defined format. You can then apply these settings to other charts, and you won't have to go through the long or tedious steps necessary to do all the formatting over again.

To create your own chart format, follow these steps:

Use whatever formatting commands are necessary to define your chart just the way you want it.
Choose Chart Type from the Chart menu. Excel displays the Chart Type dialog box.
Make sure the Custom Types tab is displayed. (Click here to see a related figure.)
Make sure the User-defined option button is selected at the bottom of the dialog box.
Click on the Add button. Excel displays the Add Custom Chart Type dialog box. (Click here to see a related figure.)
Enter the name and description that you want assigned to this chart format.
Click on OK. The format is saved and is available from the Custom tab of the Chart Types dialog box.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (3211) applies to Microsoft Excel versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

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Creating Custom Chart Formats