Charts and Dashboards: Chart Tools – Contextual Tabs (Part 2)
20 December 2019
Welcome back to Charts and Dashboards blog series. This week, we’ll continue to look at the Format sub-tab from the contextual Chart Tools tabs.
Last week, I wrote about the Design sub-tab in the contextual tabs which appear on the Ribbon when I click on a chart. Now, let’s move to the next sub-tab: Format, which helps me manually design charts to my liking.
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2019/charts-and-dashboards/005-contextual-tab-2/image1.png/e774d10cbbb9450fc45efbe51abdf434.jpg)
Let’s break it down into smaller categories.
‘Current Selection’ says which part I am currently choosing to format. I can ‘Reset to Match Style’ which brings me back to the original one:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2019/charts-and-dashboards/005-contextual-tab-2/image2.png/f32e5a15e2cf9c3e4d2d058458ce054d.jpg)
Next to it is the ‘Insert Shapes’, from which I can insert multiple shapes to my chart:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2019/charts-and-dashboards/005-contextual-tab-2/image3.png/f1140ff857fc3b6f5f97a6a24f4a6fc7.jpg)
From the ‘Shape Style’ category, shape outlines, fills and other effect may be formatted:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2019/charts-and-dashboards/005-contextual-tab-2/image4.png/72aa864d2854c6fefb1083fba0ab5792.jpg)
I can even add ‘WordArt’:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2019/charts-and-dashboards/005-contextual-tab-2/image5.png/36776d1da4d05b45bb5a5d09375f407c.jpg)
In the ‘Accessibility’ category, if I click ‘Alt Text’:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2019/charts-and-dashboards/005-contextual-tab-2/image6.png/23912d3b1671861e02bebcd5183f1607.jpg)
a dialog will pop out like this:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2019/charts-and-dashboards/005-contextual-tab-2/image7.png/6f49c288a0d88a66b427eaf4ece923d6.jpg)
In the ‘Arrange’ category, the position of the chart may be adjusted:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2019/charts-and-dashboards/005-contextual-tab-2/image8.png/b9ee28d90e6b5bc92ea4aeafdad51628.jpg)
Last but not least is the ‘Size’ category. This is very helpful when I am designing a dashboard, where I need to make charts identical in some size dimensions, by just setting the height and width to the same numbers:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2019/charts-and-dashboards/005-contextual-tab-2/image9.png/0485ccbc83bdeec1d741bad442a1ea5f.jpg)
In addition to the contextual ‘Chart Tools’ on the Ribbon, charts may also be quickly formatted using their side-menus. If I click on a chart, I will see on my right there three option boxes:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2019/charts-and-dashboards/005-contextual-tab-2/image10.png/daf8c4f0259ce428269c0d3d4badd32b.jpg)
If I click the plus shaped button, there is a list of tick boxes where I can choose which to be added to my chart. I can also click on the arrows for more detailed options:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2019/charts-and-dashboards/005-contextual-tab-2/image11.png/22c6daeb82d7d69ac88f878227e04b28.jpg)
The second icon is the brush pen box, which is similar to the Design tab, where I may quickly choose my chart styles and colours:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2019/charts-and-dashboards/005-contextual-tab-2/image12.png/a1537847463e660a31158c8032525438.jpg)
Finally, the filter panel may be used to sort out which data I want to display on the chart:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2019/charts-and-dashboards/005-contextual-tab-2/image13.png/917da985be13220165c8d2823e95344f.jpg)
A right click on the chart will trigger a menu list, which offers me most of the options from the contextual ‘Chart Tools’ tabs:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2019/charts-and-dashboards/005-contextual-tab-2/image14.png/8c3be7af9f73d031acae69ed85a2e148.jpg)
That’s it for this week; check back next week for more Charts and Dashboards tips.