How do I insert a marker on an Excel bar chart?
 

How do I insert a marker on an Excel bar chart that represents a significant
point such as a goal or a minimum requirement for the data being charted?

Answer: How do I insert a marker on an Excel bar chart?
 

To insert a marker on an Excel bar chart, you can follow these steps:

1. Select the data series that you want to add a marker to by clicking on one of the bars in the chart.
2. Right-click on the selected data series and choose "Format Data Series" from the drop-down menu.
3. In the Format Data Series pane that appears on the right-hand side of the screen, click on the "Marker Options" tab.
4. Check the box next to "Built-in" and choose the type of marker you want to use from the drop-down menu. You can choose from a variety of shapes, including circles, squares, diamonds, and triangles.
5. Adjust the size and color of the marker as desired.
6. If you want to add a label to the marker, check the box next to "Label" and enter the text you want to appear next to the marker.

To insert a marker that represents a significant point such as a goal or minimum requirement, you can follow these additional steps:

1. Determine the value of the significant point you want to represent on the chart.
2. Add a new data series to the chart by clicking on the "Add Chart Element" button in the "Chart Tools" menu and choosing "Data Series" from the drop-down menu.
3. In the "Edit Series" pane that appears on the right-hand side of the screen, enter the value of the significant point in the "Values" field.
4. Leave the "Category (X) axis labels" field blank.
5. Click on the "Fill & Line" tab in the "Format Data Series" pane and choose "No Fill" for the marker.
6. Check the box next to "Error Bars" and choose "Custom" from the drop-down menu.
7. In the "Error Amount" section, choose "Fixed Value" and enter a value that represents the distance from the significant point to the top of the chart.
8. Choose "No Cap" for the error bar end style.
9. Repeat steps 6-8 for the lower error bar, using a negative value to represent the distance from the significant point to the bottom of the chart.
10. Adjust the color and style of the error bars as desired.

Doc_Fixer,

One idea is to use a text box or an autoshape. To access these options, you
need to have the drawing toolbar available. You can get to the drawing
toolbar by going to the standard toolbar and going to View - Toolbars -
Drawing.

Once the drawing toolbar is available, you can drag a text box or an
autoshape onto your chart. You can look in Excel's help under "Add a shape
or textbox to a worksheet" or "Add text to a shape or text box" for more
information on text options. Formatting options are avilable there too.

----
Regards,
John Mansfield
http://www.pdbook.com

"Doc_Fixer" wrote:

How do I insert a marker on an Excel bar chart that represents a significant
point such as a goal or a minimum requirement for the data being charted?

This page links to different techniques to add horizontal and vertical lines to
column charts:

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

You'll find that although setting them up may take slightly more effort, they will
more robustly denote the desired level than a drawing object added to the chart.

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

Doc_Fixer wrote:

How do I insert a marker on an Excel bar chart that represents a significant
point such as a goal or a minimum requirement for the data being charted?