Thanks very much for relying I see what you are saying to some degree. the
problem is that I am rather lacking in experience and having looked all over
the blacnk excel window at all of the controls I can not find anything that
is called donut, to make a chart from I am using excel 1997 and 2003 on a
seperate computer. The other thing that interest me is thatI was hoping to
inseret letters/ numbers into the chart aswell. The speedo chart that you
have draw is very interresting. Where would I find donut.

Dean

"Jon Peltier" wrote:

Dean -

You could use a donut chart to give you the fan. Set it up so that half
of it is blank: make one value equal to the sum of all the others, then
format it so it has no fill and no border. Adjust the values for the
other segments to get the appropriate sizes, and use data labels for the
text.

For example, start with data like this:

blank 60
a 10
b 20
c 10
d 15
e 5

The cell next to "blank" has a formula to make sure its value equals the
sum of the others, no matter how they may change.

Select both columns of data and make a donut chart. Double click on the
donut part, and on the options tab, set the angle of the first slice to
90 degrees, so the blank semicircle is at the bottom. On the data labels
tab, use the categories option for the labels. Format the semicircular
segment to be invisible (no border, no fill), and remove its data label.

I use this as part of my Speedometer chart, if you want an illustrated
example:

http://peltiertech.com/Excel/Charts/SpeedometerXP.html

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Peltier Technical Services
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
http://PeltierTech.com/
_______

Dean wrote:
I have started using Excel to draw something called fan charts or at least
attempt to. These are simply charts which are shaped like a 180 degree
drawing protractor which have been segemented and words and numbers inserted
into the segments.
Previously I have done this by hand which is time consuming and inprecise.

Can any suggest either template or other means by which I could draw this
fan charts and be able to insert words etc into the segments. I have
experimented with the shapes avaliable in Excel 2003 but todate I have not
had the results I was hoping for. I have turned the arch shapso that the
arch faced vertical and tried to cut of the square half of it's bottom. This
I was not able to do and segementing the actual arch with line drawing was
very difficult and in precise. The segements would not then accept any
letters. I also tried half cutting the circle shape from auto shapes but this
again was unsuccessful. If any one can help or suggest anuything then I would
be grateful to hear from them.