The Microsoft Excel spreadsheet processor is a multifunctional application that allows you to automate the processing of digital information (engineering calculations, problem solving, accounting documentation). Sometimes, to better understand "what the numbers say," you need to visualize them. The most suitable way for this is diagrams and graphs. How to make them better and what they are - this article will tell.
Types of graphs in Microsoft Excel 2007
Depending on what type of digital information you want to display, different types of graphs are used:
- classic (with kinks);
- histogram (vertical columns);
- ruler (horizontal columns);
- circular (diagrams);
- point (analogue of the classical);
- stock exchange;
- surface;
- annular;
- petal;
- bubbly.
In Excel, they are grouped into 10 groups. In each of the latter, from 2 to 16 options are present. He assigned the whole block in the tab "Insert" under the name "Charts". Inserting a predefined template from this subsection is a necessary step in any way of making a schedule in Excel.
Schedule making
Creating a schedule can be divided into 2 stages: preparation of digital information and construction. The first is not particularly complicated - it requires you to sequentially enter the required values into the cells and select them. If they differ from each other by the same number (1,2,3,4 ...) or these are days of the week, then you can speed up this process using the "AutoFill" function.
The second stage of how to make a graph in "Excel" according to the data consists of 2 steps:
- After highlighting in the Charts block (Insert tab), select the type of the new chart. There are 2 ways to do this: select one of the necessary directly in the block or click on the button in the lower right corner of the subsection to open a window with all the options.
- Select one of the options and click on it.
A new chart appears next to or on top of the data for it. To move it to another part of the sheet, you need to move the cursor to the border (it should change its shape to a cross with 4 arrows pointing in different directions) and, holding the left mouse button, move it.
Addition to previously created schedule
Sometimes when creating a chart, it becomes necessary to change it due to erroneously selected or new data. To fix an incomplete or erroneous schedule, you need to:
- Right-click on its graphic part (columns or lines).
- In the context menu, select the "Select data" sub-item.
- In the new dialog box, click on the "Add" button.
- Enter the name for the new range of digits in the row row name (it will be displayed in the legend of the graph).
- Click on the button on the right side of the second line and select the required values.
- After the selection is complete, click the button on the right side of the window again and click “OK” in the main window.
This is the way to make the schedule augmented.
Stepped graph
There is no standard template for how to make this type of chart in Microsoft Excel. But you can use one of the standard ones, building it according to specially prepared data.
The preparation is as follows: you need to create 2 lists of values. In the first, all values except the first and last should be repeated twice. In the second - all values. This is required to create the "steps".
After preparing 2 columns with numbers, you need to select them and use the standard chart template called “Spot with straight lines”.
How to make a work schedule in Excel
Microsoft Excel is a large table, and therefore one of the options for its use is the formation of a shift schedule for subsequent printing. Ways of making a work schedule 2: manual and automatic. The first method is quite simple, since it does not use chart insertion. It consists in the following:
- Fill in the cells in the column with the names of the employees.
- Select a number of cells above the first name of the first employee and fill them with the numbers of the month or days of the week using auto-complete.
- Change the width of columns containing cells with day numbers: select the necessary columns, click RMB on their alphabetic name and select "Column Width" in the context menu, enter the desired value.
- Select cells at the intersection of last name and days of the month or week, corresponding to the work schedule.
- Combine them and change their color using the "Fill" tool located in the "Home" tab, the "Font" block. Alternative call combination: Alt> Z> Z.
- Fill in the first cells of the graph using the previous step. To quickly fill in the remaining, you can use the "AutoFill".
Add a color transcript below the graph.
Automatic duty schedule creation
The main advantage of the automatic way of how to make a schedule over the manual one is that when one of the values changes, it changes and the program builds it again.
To create a duty schedule , you need to run the following algorithm:
- Select the columns with the following information: last name, start date and number of days.
- Insert the “Ruled Accumulated” graph template.
- To change the time range in the graph, you need to enter the first and last date in any 2 free cells, and then change their format to “General”.
- Click on the line with the dates inside the graph and select "Format of the data series" in the drop-down menu.
- In the new window, put a checkmark next to “minimum value” and “maximum value” in the text fields, enter the values from the third step.
- Check the box next to “Price of the main divisions” and enter a number in the text box. It indicates the number of days between the marks on the chart.
- Select the left block with last names and in the context menu called by RMB, select the sub-item “Axis format”.
- In the new dialog box, you need to put marks next to the lines “Reverse Category Order” and “in the maximum category”. This will sort the last names alphabetically and leave a date line under the graph.
- Select the part of the schedule that indicates the days before the start of the duty (highlighted in blue in the screenshot).
- Call the drop-down menu and select the sub-item “Format of data series”.
- Sequentially go to the “Fill” and “Border color” subparagraphs and put a checkmark in them near “No fill” and “No lines”, respectively.
- To change the appearance of the graph, you need to select its colored parts and call up their properties using the right mouse button ("Data Series Format") or the hot key "Ctrl +1".
Unfortunately, this method can be used to a limited extent to create a work schedule in the enterprise. But with it, you can draw up a work plan or vacation schedule.
Microsoft Excel is a powerful tool for working with numbers. It also allows you to make graphics, as one of the ways to visualize them.