It is easy to create a bad-looking chart in Excel, so this book teaches how to unlock the beautiful formatting options available in Excel 2007. The authors discuss themes, colors, creating metallic charts, shadows, and transparency, and show how to use the new in-cell data bar charts now available.

Provides information on using the spreadsheet software to create and utilize graphs and charts, discussing themes, colors, shadows, and transparency.

After 15 years with no updates to the Excel charting engine, Microsoft has provided a complete rewrite of the chart rendering engine in Excel 2007.This book will teach users to develop their skills so they can produce great looking charts that communicate clearly. Brilliant Excel Charts and Graphs teaches techniques that enable users to discard the Microsoft defaults and create charts that can communicate effectively. The first section explains how to decide which chart type to use and subsequent chapters walk through each of the chart types, how to create them, how to utilize them and special options available for each chart. Throughout the book there are no-nonsense, step-by-step tutorials and lots of practical examples aimed directly at business users

Extend your Excel 2007 skills—and create more-powerful and compelling charts in less time. Guided by an Excel expert, you’ll learn how to turn flat, static charts into dynamic solutions—where you can visualize and manipulate data countless ways with a simple mouse click. Get the hands-on practice and examples you need to produce your own, professional-quality results. No programming required! Maximize the impact of your ideas and data! Learn how your design decisions affect perception and comprehension Match the right chart type to your communication objective Visualize—then build—your solution using the author’s five-step approach Apply the science of color to make the right things pop Add controls—such as drop-down lists and scroll bars—without coding Use conditional formatting to dynamically highlight and analyze data Unleash your chart-making creativity—and bring numbers to life! CD includes: More than 150 sample, customizable charts for various business scenarios Helpful worksheets and job aids Bonus content and resources Fully searchable eBook For customers who purchase an ebook version of this title, instructions for downloading the CD files can be found in the ebook.

Welcome to the only guidebook series that takes a visual approach to professional-level computer topics. Open the book and you'll discover step-by-step screen shots that demonstrate over 110 Excel data analysis techniques, including: * Identifying trends in your data * Sorting, filtering, and identifying lists * Creating, editing, and checking formulas * Calculating interest rates and depreciation * Performing simple sorts and filters * Hiding rows or columns in a PivotTable * Adding and removing chart data * Querying an Access database * Assigning digital signatures * Solving a formula with a data table "I was stuck on an Excel problem for two days. Finally, I opened one of your books, and there was a macro to accomplish exactly what I needed! You made me look good to the boss." -Rob L. Meerscheidt(The Woodlands, TX) * High-resolution screen shots demonstrate each task * Succinct explanations walk you through step by step * Two-page lessons break big topics into bite-sized modules * "Apply It" and "Extra" sidebars highlight useful tips

Get beyond the basics with Excel 2007 charts Now you can take your Excel charting skills to the next level with help from this hands-on guide. Excel 2007 Charts Made Easy shows you how to upgrade from simple pie and bar charts to rich data visualization using the full range of charts available in the latest version of the software. Discover how easy it is to create custom charts with compelling effects and to display data in more meaningful ways. Manually format chart components Show trends in your data with line charts Combine line and pie charts to create area charts Plot data using scatter charts and bubble charts Create and format stock charts Connect three data points with a surface chart Display the relationship between various data series using doughnut charts Compare data values with radar charts Use PivotTables and PivotCharts to work with dynamic data Incorporate Excel charts into Word documents and PowerPoint presentations