Extract a graph legend and place it on the worksheet itself?

I have 8 graphs all with the same legend (line colours and meaning), so in order to save space I would like to remove the legend from each graph and create/include just one large one at the top of the worksheet. This has caused me problems.

Is there a way to do this without having to manually create/draw one? I've tried cutting it out but that hasn't worked.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Mike.

RocketGoal

Posted 2010-08-17T09:46:24.947

Reputation: 1 468

Answers

All versions of Excel on Windows:

Put a screen capture of Excel into the clipboard using Alt + Print Screen
Crop it in your image editor of choice
Paste it back in into Excel

Mike Fitzpatrick

Posted 2010-08-17T09:46:24.947

Reputation: 15 062

1I've just found the paste as picture option. Hidden under the paste button. opps. – RocketGoal – 2010-08-17T12:12:46.183

Simple solution: Duplicate one of the graphs and make everything except the legend as small, as it's possible. Then set some background color to the legend and resize it to fit the whole graph area.

Vlastik

Posted 2010-08-17T09:46:24.947

Reputation: 21

Tested in Excel 2010:

Select your chart
From the Ribbon tool select Copy as Picture... (Click the drop down next to Copy)
Paste your picture (a copy of the entire chart)
Right click somewhere on the picture. Above the pop-up menu you'll see a small window with a few buttons - one is the Crop Tool.
Drag the crop markers to remove the unwanted area around your legend.

Note: This copy will not update with your charts if you change your data.

Mike Fitzpatrick

Posted 2010-08-17T09:46:24.947

Reputation: 15 062

Interesting idea. I tried that with the camera tool but it's a bit hit and miss. The not updating thing may not be a problem...for the moment. – RocketGoal – 2010-08-17T10:39:41.240

No option in 2007 to copy and paste as picture. It just copies and pastes the graph in its editable format.. Thanks anyway. – RocketGoal – 2010-08-17T10:42:59.020

RocketGoal: Mike said Copy as Picture, not Copy. – Jon Peltier – 2013-09-05T14:29:47.797

Copy chart
Paste it below original
Show legend if not visible
Fill the legend with White background (Assuming your slides have white background too)
Make the chart area as small as possible
Bring the legend over the chart area to hide it behind
There you go. Now you have the chart showing just the legend. You can re-size it as you wish!

Ashok

Posted 2010-08-17T09:46:24.947

Reputation: 1

Amongst all the charts pick one with the most convenient legend or create one with one such legend as dummy chart. Then format your legend with a solid fill and make it large enough to cover everything in the chart area. Then as you resize the chart area, the legend shall be resized accordingly.

Excel considers it as a complete new chart, but you can do the job. And it can be updated dynamically!

Emmanoui Zervas

Posted 2010-08-17T09:46:24.947

Reputation: 1

You could try it this way, I think I've done something similar in the past. chart layout

Lunatik

Posted 2010-08-17T09:46:24.947

Reputation: 4 973

Is this: make the first chart area as big as A4 and then copy and paste the other charts into the chart area? – RocketGoal – 2010-08-17T10:56:44.323

Kind of, except you can just drag the other charts on top of the Chart1 chart area. Making the main chart area transparent makes it much easier to do, it will still be opaque when Chart1 is selected but will go clear when you click anywhere else. – Lunatik – 2010-08-17T11:01:41.850

Never got around to trying this one, but I'll keep it in mind. – RocketGoal – 2010-08-17T14:42:37.363

Copy and paste the graph on a Word document. Increase the legend till you achieve the desirable size; reduce the size of the originating chart linked to the legend and lastly save the document as pdf. Then convert the pdf back to word using a pdf converter (installed or online). The new Word doc converted from the pdf will now have the legend series each with its separate colour and an editable description of the series.

Ikenna

Posted 2010-08-17T09:46:24.947

Reputation: 1