Specifying Colors in a Chart

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 4, 2020)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

As Microsoft Graph displays your data in a graphic format, it automatically selects colors for each of the data series (rows of data) it charts. The palette from which you can select your colors consists of 56 choices. To change colors, follow these steps:

Make sure your chart is visible on the screen and you have selected it. (You do this by clicking on the chart.)
Select a data series by clicking your mouse on the graphic representation of that series. For instance, if your data is displayed as a column chart, click on the column that represents the series whose color you want to change.
Choose Selected Data Series from the Format menu. Microsoft Graph displays the Format dialog box for the selected item. The Patterns tab should be selected. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Format Data Series dialog box

In the Area portion of the dialog box you can select the color you want to use for the actual data series.
Using the Color pull-down list, you can select a color you want to use for the outline border of the data series.
Click on OK.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (685) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

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