Changing Shapes in Microsoft Graph

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 7, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

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. The graphs you create can be inserted directly into your documents.

Once you have defined the type of chart you want to use to display your data, you may want to change the actual shapes used for a particular data series. You can change shapes for most three-dimensional chart types, but not for the two-dimensional ones. You can change shapes for a data series by following these steps:

Right-click on any element of the data series you want to change. Microsoft Graph displays a Context menu.
Choose Format Data Series from the Context menu. Microsoft Graph displays the Format Data Series dialog box.
Make sure the Shape tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Shape tab of the Format Data Series dialog box

Select a shape you want to use for 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 (707) 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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