Indezine Logo




Chart Legend in PowerPoint 2003 for Windows

Learn how to add and reposition chart legends in PowerPoint 2003 for Windows. Experiment with different legend positions to find the one that works best for you.


Author:

Product/Version: PowerPoint 2003 for Windows

OS: Microsoft Windows XP and higher



Learn PowerPoint

Learn how to pause slides, sounds, and movies – and resume!



Charts in PowerPoint can be customized by changing the appearance of various chart elements. The legend is also a chart element. Typically, the legend is a box or area that contains color or pattern swatches representing all the series in a chart. Look at Figure 1, below that shows a default chart created in PowerPoint 2003 for Windows. The legend is the box that captions the series East, West, and North and identifies them with different colors so that you can follow which series each of the columns in that chart represent.

Chart in PowerPoint 2003
Figure 1: Chart in PowerPoint 2003

The legend can be formatted to be placed at various locations within the chart area, and you can hide it altogether. You can also remove the box that surrounds the legend.

Follow these steps to change the location of the legend in the chart area, hide it altogether, or remove the boxed outline around it in PowerPoint 2003 for Windows:

  1. You first need to have a chart in your presentation. Learn how to insert a chart in PowerPoint 2003.
  2. Now double-click the chart to get into chart editing mode, as shown in Figure 2, below. Notice that the menu and toolbars are now changed from the default PowerPoint interface.
  3. Chart editing mode
    Figure 2: Chart editing mode
  4. Default Legend Position

  5. By default, the legend appears on the right side of the chart as shown in Figures 1 and 2.
  6. From the menu bar, choose the Chart | Chart Options, as shown in Figure 3, below.
  7. Chart Options
    Figure 3: Chart Options
  8. This step opens the Chart Options dialog box. Select the Legend tab, as you can see in Figure 4, below.
  9. Chart Options dialog box
    Figure 4: Chart Options dialog box
  10. Here are some options you can choose from:
    1. To hide the legend altogether, deselect the Show legend check box. To enable it again, check this option if it is deselected.
    2. Within the Placement section, choose different locations for the legend.
  11. The preview area on the right displays the changes you make. Click the OK to get back to your edited chart.
  12. Now select the legend box in the chart, and choose the Format | Selected Legend option, as shown in Figure 5, below.
  13. Selected Legend
    Figure 5: Selected Legend
  14. This action brings up the Format Legend dialog box. Select the Patterns tab, and set the Border to None, as shown in Figure 6, above. Doing so sets your outline box around the legend to none. While you are here, you can also select the Font tab of this dialog box, shown in Figure 7, and change the size and font of your legend text. There's also a Placement tab, but options here are fewer than in the Chart Options dialog we explored earlier on this page.
  15. Patterns tab
    Figure 6: Patterns tab
  16. Font tab
    Figure 7: Font tab
  17. Click anywhere outside the chart to get back to the default PowerPoint interface.

See Also:

Chart Legend: Chart Legend (Glossary Page)

Chart Legend in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows
Chart Legend in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac
Chart Legend in PowerPoint 2010 for Windows
Chart Legend in PowerPoint 2007 for Windows

You May Also Like: Essential PowerPoint Skills Everyone Needs, Especially Working from Home | Loans PowerPoint Templates


Popular Posts

Formatting Outlines for Shapes (Dashes) in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows
Formatting Outlines for Shapes (Dashes) in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows
Learn how to apply the dash attribute to shape outlines in PowerPoint 2013 for Windows.

Change the Unit of Measurement in Windows 10
Change the Unit of Measurement in Windows 10
Learn how to change the unit of measurement from US to Metric, and vice versa in Windows 10.

PowerPoint Tutorials, Articles and Reviews
PowerPoint Tutorials, Articles and Reviews
Tutorials, reviews, articles and templates for Microsoft PowerPoint and other presentation software.

PowerPoint Templates
PowerPoint Templates
Find over 6000 PowerPoint templates in thousands of categories and all colors—from a trusted PowerPoint template resource for 20 years.



Feature List 01 (Layout with Tabs)

The Feature List Layout comprises three sample PowerPoint presentations: one each to create a visual list for 4 features, 5 features, and 6 features. These work great when you have too much information to fit within one slide. This solution lets you use multiple slides, but the visual result is still that of one single slide!

Buy and Download Feature List 01 (Layout with Tabs) for $4.99+ (671 kb)


Microsoft and the Office logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.

Home | PowerPoint | Photoshop | PowerPoint Templates | PowerPoint Tutorials | Blog | Notes | Ezine | Media Kit | Feedback | Site Map | About Us | Contact Us

Link to Us | Privacy | Testimonials

PowerPoint Backgrounds | Christian PowerPoint Backgrounds | Business PowerPoint Presentation Templates

Plagiarism will be detected by Copyscape

©2000-2023, . All rights reserved.