Charts and Dashboards: Chart Tools – Contextual Tabs (Part 1)
13 December 2019
Welcome back to Charts and Dashboards blog series. Over the next two weeks, we’ll look at contextual tabs in Chart Tools.
After a chart is created, if I click on a chart, Chart Tools contextual tabs will appear on the Ribbon. Here is where I can customise my chart. The tab has two sub-tabs, Design and Format. Let’s break them down.
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2019/charts-and-dashboards/004-contextual-tab-1/image1.png/e774d10cbbb9450fc45efbe51abdf434.jpg)
On the far-most, left-hand side is the ‘Chart Layouts’ category, where I can quickly fix the element and layout of my chart.
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2019/charts-and-dashboards/004-contextual-tab-1/image2.png/f32e5a15e2cf9c3e4d2d058458ce054d.jpg)
I can add a variety of element such as Axes, Axis Titles, Chart Titles, etc. in the ‘Add Chart Element’ section:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2019/charts-and-dashboards/004-contextual-tab-1/image3.png/f1140ff857fc3b6f5f97a6a24f4a6fc7.jpg)
Also, I may choose how my chart and its element(s) will look like using the ‘Quick Layout’ option:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2019/charts-and-dashboards/004-contextual-tab-1/image4.png/72aa864d2854c6fefb1083fba0ab5792.jpg)
The ‘Chart Styles’ category is where I can change my chart color palette to my liking or report format requirements, and also there are different chart designs I can choose from, rather than design my chart manually:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2019/charts-and-dashboards/004-contextual-tab-1/image5.png/36776d1da4d05b45bb5a5d09375f407c.jpg)
Then in the ‘Data’ section, I can choose to ‘Switch Row/Column’ in my data (just like how you do with transpose), then the chart layout will also be changed.
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2019/charts-and-dashboards/004-contextual-tab-1/image6.png/23912d3b1671861e02bebcd5183f1607.jpg)
For example, note what have been changed in the chart when I click ‘Switch Row/Column’:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2019/charts-and-dashboards/004-contextual-tab-1/image7.png/6f49c288a0d88a66b427eaf4ece923d6.jpg)
In case I think a Column chart is not ideal. However, rather than starting from scratch, choosing the entire data to insert the chart, I just need to click on ‘Change Chart Type’ section:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2019/charts-and-dashboards/004-contextual-tab-1/image8.png/b9ee28d90e6b5bc92ea4aeafdad51628.jpg)
A dialog will pop out, where I can choose to change my initial chart to another chart type, or also make it a ‘Combo’ chart (as the last item on the left-hand list), to choose which series to be displayed as which type (Column, Line, etc.).
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2019/charts-and-dashboards/004-contextual-tab-1/image9.png/0485ccbc83bdeec1d741bad442a1ea5f.jpg)
The last section on the ‘Design’ sub-tab is the ‘Move Chart’ category, where I can move the chart to another sheet or to my created dashboard:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2019/charts-and-dashboards/004-contextual-tab-1/image10.png/daf8c4f0259ce428269c0d3d4badd32b.jpg)
That’s it for this week; check back next week for more Charts and Dashboards tips.