In this example, that doesn’t quite work you’ll need to manually add two text boxes.
![excel graph axis label overlap excel graph axis label overlap](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/RhKwpgP4nys/maxresdefault.jpg)
#Excel graph axis label overlap series
To add the Organization A and Organization B text, I would *usually* click Format Data Labels and check the box next to Series Name. I often adjust the label colors so that the labels match the line (maroon numbers to match the maroon line, orange numbers to match the orange line). You might enlarge the label text and make that text bold so that it stands out against the gray axis labels. Finally, fill the label with white so that the text is legible.Ĭontinue formatting a bit more. In my picture below, data labels overlap the title, which makes it look unpresentable. If you often deal with relative sizes and illustrate proportions of the whole, you are likely to use pie charts. Adjust the label position so that the labels are centered on top of each data point. Use the Camera tool to rotate your Excel chart to any angle Rotate a pie chart in Excel to any angle you like. Then, do the same thing to the orange line: Add data labels. Go to Shape Fill (the paint can icon) and fill each label with a white background. So the labels are totally unreadable because they’ve got a line running through them.Ĭlick on the labels again so that a square appears around the outside of the labels. In the Format Data Labels editing window, adjust the Label Position.īy default the labels appear to the right of each data point.Ĭlick on Center so that the labels appear right on top of each point. Then, right-click on any of those data labels. You’ll see little squares around each data point. Your unformatted labels will appear to the right of each data point:Ĭlick just once on any of those data labels. Right-click on top of one of those circular data points. You might even add light gray tick marks along the x-axis.Ĭlick anywhere along the line, just once, and you’ll see little circles on top of each data point: You’ll get a 1990s-era default line chart:Īdjust the y-axis so that the grid lines don’t appear quite so often (e.g., every 50 units rather than every 20 units).Īpply a custom color palette (colors that match the organization’s look and feel rather than Excel’s blue and orange). Highlight the entire data table (A1 through H3), go to the Insert tab, and click on the line chart icon. There’s been a lot of interest in this labeling technique, so here’s your step-by-step tutorial! A personal favorite is to place the labels directly through the data points, like this: I recently discussed four options for labeling line graphs.