After you create a chart, you can instantly change its look. Instead of manually adding or changing chart elements or formatting the chart, you can quickly apply a predefined layout and style to your chart. Microsoft Office Excel provides a variety of useful predefined layouts and styles (or quick layouts and quick styles) that you can choose from, but you can customize a layout or style further if needed by manually changing the layout and style of individual chart elements.

You cannot save a custom layout or format, but if you want to use the same layout or format again, you can save the chart as a chart template.What do you want to do?

Select a predefined chart layout

  1. Click the chart that you want to format.

    Tip This displays the Chart Tools, adding the Design, Layout, and Format tabs.

  2. On the Design tab, in the Chart Layouts group, click the chart layout that you want to use.

    excel ribbon image

    Note When the Excel window is reduced in size, chart layouts will be available in the Quick Layout gallery in the Chart Layouts group.

    Tip To see all available layouts, click More button image.

Select a predefined chart style

  1. Click the chart that you want to format.

    Tip This displays the Chart Tools, adding the Design, Layout, and Format tabs.

  2. On the Design tab, in the Chart Styles group, click the chart style that you want to use.

    excel ribbon image

    Note When the Excel window is reduced in size, chart styles will be available in the Chart Quick Styles gallery in the Chart Styles group.

    Tip To see all predefined chart styles, click More button image.

Change the layout of chart elements manually

  1. Click the chart, or select the chart element for which you want to change the layout.

    showHow to select a chart element from a list of chart elements

    1. Click a chart to display the Chart Tools.
    2. On the Format tab, in the Current Selection group, click the arrow next to the Chart Elements box, and then click the chart element that you want.

      excel ribbon image

    Tip This displays the Chart Tools, adding the Design, Layout, and Format tabs.

  2. On the Layout tab, do the one or more of the following:
    • In the Labels group, click the label layout option that you want.
    • In the Axes group, click the axis or gridline option that you want.
    • In the Background group, click the layout option that you want.

    Note The layout options that you select are applied to the element that you have selected. For example, if you have the entire chart selected, data labels will be applied to all data series. If you have a single data point selected, data labels will only be applied to the selected data series or data point.

Change the style of chart elements manually

  1. Click the chart.

    Tip This displays the Chart Tools, adding the Design, Layout, and Format tabs.

  2. On the Format tab, in the Current Selection group, click the arrow in the Chart Elements box, and then select the chart element that you want to format.

    excel ribbon image

  3. In the Current Selection group, click Format Selection, and then select the formatting options that you want.

    Tip You can also apply a quick style to individual elements, or click Shape Fill, Shape Outline, and Shape Effects in the Shape Quick Styles group on the Format tab, and then select the formatting options that you want.

Save a chart as a chart template

  1. Click the chart that you want to save as a template.

    Tip This displays the Chart Tools, adding the Design, Layout, and Format tabs.

  2. On the Design tab, in the Type group, click Save As Template.

    excel ribbon image

  3. In the Save in box, make sure that the Charts folder is selected.
  4. In the File name box, type an appropriate name for the chart template.

Tip When you create a new chart or want to change the chart type of an existing chart, you can apply the new chart template.

showHow to apply a chart template

  1. Do one of the following:
    • To create a new chart based on the template, on the Insert tab, in the Charts group, click any chart type, and then click All Chart Types.

      Tip You can also click the Dialog Box Launcher button image next to Charts in the Charts group on the Insert tab.

    • To base the chart type of a selected chart on the template, on the Design tab, in the Type group, click Change Chart Type.
  2. Click Templates in the first box, and then click the template that you want to use in the second box.

    Note If you saved a chart template in a folder other than the Charts folder, click Manage Templates, locate the chart template, and then copy or move it to the Charts folder under Templates.



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