Adding Data Labels to your charts in
PowerPoint is one of the ways to make it more effective. But sometimes using this option may spoil the look of your chart because
the Data Labels you used are too long and overlap each other, as shown in Figure 1, below
where Series names show as Data Labels.
Figure 1: Chart with Series names used as Data Labels
As you can see in Figure 1 above, the Data Labels added to 'Apples' Series are overlapping the surrounding
Series in the Categories 2011 and 2012. To avoid this kind of issues, and also to format the Data Labels for different purposes
such as adding some more elements to them, or change their text color etc, you need to format them as explained in this tutorial.
First of all insert a Chart on your slide and
add Data Labels. Then, follow these steps to format Data
Labels in PowerPoint 2011:
- Select the chart, this displays the Chart Layout and Format tabs on the
Ribbon area, select the Chart Layout
tab, as shown highlighted in red within Figure 2. Within the Chart Layout
tab, click the Chart Labels button (highlighted in blue within
Figure 2) to open the Data Labels menu. Within the Data Labels menu select
Data Label Options as shown in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Data Label Options
Alternatively, select a data label in your chart
and right-click (Ctrl+click) to bring up a contextual menu, from this menu, choose the Format Data Labels option as
shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: Format Data Labels option
- Either of the above options will summon the Format Data Labels dialog box as shown in Figure 4.
Figure 4: Format Data Labels dialog box
Let us explore the options within the sidebar of the Format Data Labels dialog box as shown in Figure 4, above:
Labels
Includes two sections, Label contains and Label options. To learn
more about this option, refer to our Format Data Label
Options for Charts in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac option.
Number
This option is used to apply various number formats to the data values. To learn more about this
option, refer to our Format Number Options for
Chart Data Labels in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac tutorial.
Font
You can play with various Font options available. To learn more about Font editing options,
refer to our Font Options in Format Text
Dialog Box in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac tutorial.
Text Box
Provides you with the options to change the text layout of the Data Labels (highlighted in
red within Figure 5). To learn more about how to use these options, refer to our
Text Layout Options in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac
tutorial.
Figure 5: Text Box option within Format Data Labels dialog box
The only option which you won't find documented in the linked tutorial is Custom angle (highlighted in
blue within Figure 5). In our sample chart, we set the Custom angle to 90°
(see Figure 5, again). This option is useful when you want to rotate the Data Labels to a specific angle, just type the required
angle in degrees within the box, or use the up and down arrows next to it. You can see the resultant chart within Figure 5, later on
this page.
All other options here are not usable with Data Labels.
Fill
Used to fill the text box containing Data Labels. To learn more about how to use these
options, refer to our Fills for Shapes in
PowerPoint 2011 for Mac tutorial, fills within text boxes work the same way.
Line
Provides options to format the border of the text box containing Data Labels. To learn more about how
to use these options, refer to our
Formatting Lines (and Shape Outlines) in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac tutorial. All options explained in that tutorial work for Data
Labels except the Arrow options since the text containers are not open shapes.
Shadow
Adds a shadow to the border of the text box containing Data Labels. To learn more about how to use
these options, refer to our
Advanced Shadow Effect Options in PowerPoint 2011 for Mac tutorial.
Glow & Soft Edges
Glow option adds a halo of selected color around the text box containing Data Labels
whereas the Soft Edges effect adds an eaten-up, feathered edge to the fill (if you have applied any) and outlines of the text
box containing Data Labels. If you want to learn more about these two effects, refer to our tutorials
Advanced Glow Effect Options in
PowerPoint 2011 for Mac and
Apply Soft-Edges to Shapes in
PowerPoint 2011 for Mac. Even though you can use these options, it is not a good idea considering the small size of the text
box containing Data Labels.
3-D Format
This option doesn't work with Data Labels.
- Select the options and format your Data Labels as required. When done, click the OK button to get back to your
slide. In Figure 5, you can see our sample chart after we formatted the Data Labels (compare Figures 1
and 6).
Figure 6: Sample chart with formatted Data Labels
- Save your presentation.
