Microsoft Office

Part III
Creating Charts and Graphics
Using images in a chart offers unlimited potential for creativity. The key, of course, is to resist the temptation
to go overboard. A chart’s primary goal is to convey information, not to impress the viewer with your artistic
skills.
CAUTION
Using images, especially photos, in charts can dramatically increase the size of your workbooks.
Creating a thermometer chart
You’re probably familiar with a “thermometer” type display that shows the percentage of a task that’s completed.
Creating such a display in Excel is very easy. The trick involves creating a chart that uses a single cell
(which holds a percentage value) as a data series.
Figure 20.34 shows a worksheet set up to track daily progress toward a goal: 1,000 new customers in a 15-
day period. Cell B18 contains the goal value, and cell B19 contains a simple formula that calculates the
sum. Cell B21 contains a formula that calculates the percent of goal:
=B19/B18
FIGURE 20.33
The top chart uses clipart, while the bottom chart uses a Shape that was copied to the Clipboard.
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