How do I separate a chart from its legend

[Abby Karian]

I have so many data series on a chart with (widely different values), that in
order for the whole legend to fit, it takes up half of the entire chart and
the chart is nearly impossible to read.
I would like to put the legend on a separate page but have been unable to
figure out how to do it. Any ideas?

 

[MartinW]

Hi Abby,

I don't know of any way to separate it and keep it linked
however you could copy the entire chart and paste it into
an imaging program, then crop everything but the legend
and reinsert it into Excel as an object. I use Adobe Image
Ready for this sort of stuff so I have to paste the image
into Paint first then 'save as' to a bitmap so that Adobe
can open it. I'm sure there must be simpler ways with
different software but you gotta go with what you got.

HTH
Martin

 

[Abby Karian]

Many thanks for your response, Martin. One of our key needs was to keep the
legend linked to the chart and the chart linked to a huge data spreadsheet.
What I ended up doing as a band aid: Made another copy of the chart. On one,
I shrunk the plot area of the graph and formatted the legend to have a white
background. Then I dragged and stretched the legend over the top of the
graph. On the other, I deleted the legend and kept the graph. I don't have
much experience with Visio or the other programs, and although the charts and
their respective legends are on different pages, it was the best I could do.

Thanks again for your suggestion.

 

[MartinW]

Glad you got something sorted. That sounds like a pretty neat trick.
As the old saying goes necessity is the mother of invention.

Regards
Martin