I have 8 graphs all with the same legend (line colours and meaning), so in order to save space I would like to remove the legend from each graph and create/include just one large one at the top of the worksheet. This has caused me problems.
Is there a way to do this without having to manually create/draw one? I've tried cutting it out but that hasn't worked.
Any help greatly appreciated.
Mike.
7 Answers
All versions of Excel on Windows:
- Put a screen capture of Excel into the clipboard using Alt + Print Screen
- Crop it in your image editor of choice
- Paste it back in into Excel
Simple solution: Duplicate one of the graphs and make everything except the legend as small, as it's possible. Then set some background color to the legend and resize it to fit the whole graph area.
Tested in Excel 2010:
- Select your chart
- From the Ribbon tool select Copy as Picture... (Click the drop down next to Copy)
- Paste your picture (a copy of the entire chart)
- Right click somewhere on the picture. Above the pop-up menu you'll see a small window with a few buttons - one is the Crop Tool.
- Drag the crop markers to remove the unwanted area around your legend.
Note: This copy will not update with your charts if you change your data.
3You could try it this way, I think I've done something similar in the past.
Copy and paste the graph on a Word document. Increase the legend till you achieve the desirable size; reduce the size of the originating chart linked to the legend and lastly save the document as pdf. Then convert the pdf back to word using a pdf converter (installed or online). The new Word doc converted from the pdf will now have the legend series each with its separate colour and an editable description of the series.
- Copy chart
- Paste it below original
- Show legend if not visible
- Fill the legend with White background (Assuming your slides have white background too)
- Make the chart area as small as possible
- Bring the legend over the chart area to hide it behind
- There you go. Now you have the chart showing just the legend. You can re-size it as you wish!
Amongst all the charts pick one with the most convenient legend or create one with one such legend as dummy chart. Then format your legend with a solid fill and make it large enough to cover everything in the chart area. Then as you resize the chart area, the legend shall be resized accordingly.
Excel considers it as a complete new chart, but you can do the job. And it can be updated dynamically!
