Displaying a Chart Legend

Microsoft Graph is a simple graphing program provided with Word. It includes the ability to view your graph data in both spreadsheet and graph formats. If the data you are presenting in Microsoft Graph is complex, particularly if you have many data series (rows of data to chart), you may want to add a legend. Legends provide a "road map" for your chart so a reader can decipher what is included.

If you are using Word 6 or Word 95, you can control the display of a legend with your chart using one of the following choices:

• If the legend is displayed and you want to hide it, select Delete Legend from the Chart menu.
• If the legend is not visible and you want to display it, select Add Legend from the Chart menu.

If you are using Word 97 or a later version you can display a legend with your chart by following these steps:

1. Select Chart Options from the Chart menu. Microsoft Graph displays the Chart Options dialog box.
2. Make sure the Legend tab is selected. (Click here to see a related figure.)
3. Make sure the Show Legend check box is selected.
4. Using the radio buttons in the Placement portion of the dialog box, indicate where the legend should appear in relation to the chart itself.
5. Click your mouse on OK.

If you later want to turn off display of the legend, you can repeat the above steps, but clear the Show Legend check box, instead (step 3).

Once the legend is displayed in your chart, you can use your mouse to position it. Simply point to the legend with the mouse, hold down the mouse button, and drag the legend to where you finally want it. When you release the mouse button, Microsoft Graph places the legend in the spot where you dragged it.