Resizing an Excel Chart

- To resize your chart, do the following:

• Move your mouse pointer to the middle black square on the bottom row (if you can't see any black squares around your chart, click on the chart with the left mouse button to select it)
• Your mouse pointer will change to the shape of a arrow-headed line, like the one in the image below:

• When you mouse pointer changes to the shape above, hold down your left mouse button
• Keep your left mouse button held down and drag downwards
• Let go of the mouse button when the bottom of your chart reaches about Row 22
• Your chart should look like the one in the next picture:

As you can see, all the programmes are now showing. You can make your chart wider by moving your mouse over the right middle black square, and then dragging outwards. But careful not to drag too far out because some of your programmes will disappear. If this happens, click Edit from the menu bar, then click "Undo" from the menu.

We can make some of the Titles bold. To make your titles bold, do the following:

• Click on Viewing Figures, but click with your right mouse button
• A small menu pops up
• Click on Format Chart Title

• Another dialogue box pops up
• Select the Font tab strip
• Choose a Bold font style and click the OK button
• Your title is made Bold
• Do the same with the Programmes title and the Millions title

Your Chart should now look something like the one below:

Except you might have noticed something: The programme with the highest viewing figures, Casualty, is at the bottom! The programme with the lowest viewing figures is at the top. We can do something about this quite easily. To get them other way around, do this:

• Click on Sheet 1 to return to your spreadsheet Data
• Make sure the data is still highlighted
• Click on Data from the menu bar
• From the drop down menu, click on Sort
• On the Sort dialogue box, change the two Descending radio buttons to Ascending
• Click the OK button
• Click back on Sheet 2 to see your Chart
• The Highest programme should now be at the top, and the lowest at the bottom

The above method is not an ideal solution, but that is due to the nature of the Chart type we have chosen.

We'll now do something different with the ITV programmes. We'll create a different chart - a Pie Chart.