OK. I have to admit that I am already a fan of the Office 2007 Suite. I am so happy to share this Excel 2007 Charts tidbit with you. Image examples below: Images?

The Chart Contextual tab tools in the ribbon for layouts, formatting, etc., are awesome already. But when you open a dialog box for a chart format, like Format Chart Area, you can still click and work in the background while leaving the dialog box open and available to you. The benefit of that alone is great.

Here is the exciting part: If I click something else, like a series riser or pie piece, the dialog box updates itself to those options automatically. This bypasses a million clicks…

So let’s go back to charts in Excel 2003. You build a chart and then the format process begins. It’s a lot of right clicking and selecting dialog boxes like Format Data Series, Format Chart Area, Format Data Point, etc., which by nature comes with a lot of OK, APPLY, or CANCEL clicks.

Try it for yourself:
· Highlight some data for your chart.
· Press F11 (this is one way to build a chart).
· Right click a piece of the chart; click the “format…” option. (see Figure 1)
· Click something different, like the chart area. (see Figure 2)
· Watch the format options change in the dialog box.

As always, if you have any questions, email me @ [email protected].

Figures:

Figure 1: I right clicked the Chart Title
Selected Format Chart Title

Figure 2: I clicked directly on one of the Data Series, Format Options automatically updated.

This is the same type of functionality between the property sheet and objects in Microsoft Access.