Using Charts in Microsoft Word 2013: Changing the look and feel

You already knew how to choose and insert charts in Microsoft Word 2013. You also have known how to customize the values according to our requirements. If you are a new face to charts in MS Word 2013, I recommend you to go through the previous article showing how to choose, insert and change values while using in a document.

In this article, I’m going to tell you how to choose different styles that change the look and feel of the charts and graphs in the document. I’ll go easy on it and so should you.

After inserting and changing the chart with custom values, you might want it fit for the style of the document you are preparing. Fortunately, Office 2013 brings us the unleashed possibilities of choosing enhanced graphical illustrations. Let’s see how to apply different styles and over the illustrations.

To change the look and feel of the chart, click on the chart and go to the Design tab for further options to proceed.

Adding Chart Elements

I’m going to continue with the same kind of pie chart I’ve used in the previous article. The adding of the styles is same as adding them to the following pie chart.

You can add different chart elements for the type of chart you have inserted. There are generally 7 types of chart elements, of them some only can be used according to the type of chart inserted. Options may vary from chart to chart based on its type.



The 7 types of chart elements are:

1. Chart Title
2. Data Labels
3. Data Table
4. Legend
5. Lines
6. Trend line
7. Up/Down Bars

You could see only 4 chart elements being highlighted for the pie chart I’ve inserted.

1. Chart title

You can choose to have a title for the chart or not.



I have chosen the Above chart option here which places the chart title, ‘Sales’ at the top of it. You can also set border and fill the background with patterns, colors, pictures, and gradients.

2. Data Labels

Data labels are added to show data values for different proportions of the charts. You can set the way the data labels to be displayed as per your requirement and wish.



You could see the data values being shown for the different proportions in the above screenshot.

You can also customize the data label options by clicking on More Data Label Options. There you can choose the data and its type to be shown on the chart.

3. Data Table

Though data tables are only for bar graph type of charts, I would like to discuss them here.

You can set the bar graph with or without legend keys. The more options include the border and fill out options which we’ve discussed earlier.

4. Legend

Legend displays which data represents which values. For example take a look at the screenshot showing sales in 4 quarters.

5. Lines

It is to set the different styles of lines in the chart. You can choose to have the chart lines or not. It is as per your requirement.

6. Trend line

The trend line shows the progression in the charts. Take a look at the following screenshot for example.



The orange dotted line is the trend line. You can choose to display more than one trend line(for each series).

Changing Layout

You can change the layout of the graph that is once inserted without disturbing the values and other customizations. Take a look at the following screenshot of the pie chart we’ve been talking about since starting after changing its layout.



To change the layout Design > Quick Layout and select one among the existed.

Changing Colors

You can also change the colors for the portions that are existed. Take a look at the following screenshot as an example.



To change the colors of the chart, go to Design > Colors and choose the color combo that suits best for you.

Applying Styles

You can also apply styles to the chart. There available the best and professional styles to apply for a chart. Take a look at the pie chart we’ve been customizing looks when we apply different styles to it.

This is how you can change the look and feel of a chart in Microsoft Word 2013. If you have any queries, comment below. I’ll take my best time to answer you as quick as possible.