How do I restore a legend?

[Astr...@officeformac.com]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

In Excel 2004, we had Chart Options which, IIRC, could be used to hide/show a legend. That seems to be missing in Excel 2008. I have deleted a legend and would like to get it back!

I'm a veteran Excel user (decades), but this has left me scratching my head! I've tried clicking on every chart element in sight--and exploring all the items under the Chart menu (only 4!!)-- but all to no avail.

All help greatly appreciated!

[CyberTaz]

Yeah, they moved it on you & left no directions to the new location :-)

You need the Toolbox/Formatting Palette to be active. You'll find the Legend
list in the Chart Options group ã pop it open & select a location.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

On 3/6/09 6:04 PM, in article 59b6e...@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw,

[Astr...@officeformac.com]

One more follow up. I used the Customize Toolbars/Menus options and put another instance of the Formatting Palette command in the Chart menu!

(Where they should have put it, too! :-) )

So, it's right there when next I look for it!

Figure that tip could help someone else!

[Astr...@officeformac.com]

Brilliant! Much thanks. I smartly posted here and put away the problem, counting on the gurus here to help me out! And I was rewarded.

Do you know that even I had searched for "legend", "chart options", etc. in the help system and found nothing?!!

That works like a charm! Much thanks, Bob!

Now, if only the graphs that I created in 2004 that look great in Word, smooth, thin lines, crisp fonts, would appear the same way when I paste them from Excel 2008 into Word!

[CyberTaz]

Glad to help!

On 3/7/09 9:42 AM, in article 59b6e...@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw,
"Astr...@officeformac.com" <Astr...@officeformac.com> wrote:

> Brilliant! Much thanks. I smartly posted here and put away the problem,
> counting on the gurus here to help me out! And I was rewarded.
>
> Do you know that even I had searched for "legend", "chart options", etc. in
> the help system and found nothing?!!

Yes, it's commonly understood - within MacBU as well - that the Help
throughout Office 2008 leaves much to be desired. They have actually
improved it a great deal from what it was when first released & far more
diligent effort is going into the next version.

>
> That works like a charm! Much thanks, Bob!
>
> Now, if only the graphs that I created in 2004 that look great in Word,
> smooth, thin lines, crisp fonts, would appear the same way when I paste them
> from Excel 2008 into Word!

Can you be a bit more explicit here - I'm not sure exactly what you mean.

Regards |:>)

[Astr...@officeformac.com]

Oh, sure! Excel 2004 graphs that I had pasted into Word 2004 and then opened in Word 2008 look great.

I realized that I needed to restore a legend to one of them, however, but when I copy and paste that graph from Excel 2008 into Word 2008, the axis lines are fatter, the fonts are slightly distorted, and the fonts don't even look the same as they did in the Excel 2004 graph!

The other problem I've had is that Word 2008 balks at opening very old Word docs; and when I've opened some of them, it fails to displays the graphs pasted from Excel. The dreaded big X in a blank square shows up!

NeoOffice, however, can open up the old Word documents and displays the graphs in their full glory!

[CyberTaz]

Well, you've got a few things going on there :-) The chart is being
converted several times because of the difference in graphic engine from
'04 to '08 combined with copy/paste [which causes degradation in the first
place]. Try Control/Right-Clicking the chart in Excel, choose Save As
Picture, give it a name & select either PNG or PDF as the file type.

Then in Word use Insert> Picture> From File & see if you get better results.

HTH |:>)

Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

On 3/9/09 11:46 AM, in article 59b6e...@webcrossing.caR9absDaxw,

[Astr...@officeformac.com]

Ah, good idea! I had forgotten about that obvious option.

Alas, though, it made no difference in appearance in Word 2008.

It's pretty clear that it's the change in the Excel graphics engine that's producing the problems. I'm going to have to explore chart options in Excel 2008 to see if I can come up with something that will look as good as the Excel 2004 graphs did, by default, without user intervention!

Thanks, though, for the idea!
-----------------------

Hey, I tried something else just for kicks. I pasted the good-looking graph from Word 2004 back into Excel 2008 to see what it would look like. Weird! It's as if something put gauze over the screen! Everything is faded and slightly blurry!