Creating an Excel chart can be difficult. Here we teach you how to troubleshoot and fix common issues in order to make building charts easier.

1. For more tips on charts
and Excel 2016, visit
www.dummies.com.
The chart doesn’t gather all data from the worksheet.
1 Go to the (Chart Tools) Design tab and click the Select Data
button to open the Select Data Source dialog box.
2 Select a series and click the Up or Down button to rearrange
the series. Series that are high on the list go to the back of the
chart; series that are low on the list go to the front.
In 3D charts, small markers are obscured by large
markers in the foreground.
1 To remove them, go to the (Chart Tools) Design tab and click
the Edit Data button.
2 You see the data grid, where the data range used to generate
the chart is enclosed in a blue box.
3 Drag the lower-right corner of the box so that the box encloses
only the data you want for your chart.
“Category 1”or“Series 1”appears in the chart legend.
1 Go to the (Chart Tools) Format tab, open the Chart Elements
drop-down list, and choose Horizontal (Value) Axis or Vertical
(Value) Axis.
2 Then click the Format Selection button. You see the Format Axis
task pane.
3 Visit the Number category and select options for displaying
numbers.
The numbers in the chart aren’t formatted right.
1 Go to the (Chart Tools) Format tab, open the Chart Elements
drop-down list, and choose Horizontal (Value) Axis or Vertical
(Value) Axis.
2 Then click the Format Selection button, and in the Format Axis
task pane, go to the Number category.
3 Select Date in the Category menu and choose a date format.
The dates in the chart aren’t formatted right.
Background Image © Matej Pribelsky / Getty Images
Dummies is a registered trademark of John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
1 On the (Chart Tools) Design tab, click the Edit Data button, and
in the data grid that stores data for your chart, enlarge the blue
data-range box so that it encloses all your data. You can enlarge
the box by dragging its lower-right corner.
Sometimes tinkering with a chart in Excel
2016 opens a Pandora’s Box of problems.
Here are some shorthand instructions for
fixing common chart challenges:
Troubleshooting
a Chart in Excel®
2016