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Edit and format your chart

You can edit and format a chart a number of different ways to display it how you want.

Make quick edits

To make small, fast edits to a chart, you can use Quick Edit mode with many different chart types.

  1. Open a spreadsheet in Google Docs.
  2. Click on a chart.
  3. On the right, click Quick edit mode .
  4. Click the part of the chart that you'd like to change:
    • Chart title: Change the font style, size, or color.
    • Horizontal or vertical axis labels: Change the font style, size, or color.
    • Legend: Change the font style, size, data series color, or position.
    • Data series: Change the color, line thickness, dot size, or axis it belongs to. For example, click on a line you want to edit in a line chart or click on a bar in a bar chart.
    • Chart background: Resize your chart, move it within the chart area, change the font or background color, or adjust the number of grid lines shown.

Note: A number of these editing features are also available by right-clicking on a section of your chart.

Make advanced edits

To fully customize your chart, you can use Advanced Edit mode.

  1. Open a spreadsheet and click on a chart.
  2. In the top right, click the dropdown arrow.
  3. Select Advanced edit.
  4. In the window that appears, select a tab:
    • Recommendations: Choose from a list of recommended chart types to display your data.
    • Chart types: See a list of all chart types.
    • Customization: Make changes to the axes, series, and appearance for your chart.

More customization options

Switch rows and columns in a chart

To switch the position of the rows and column data in your chart:

  1. Open a spreadsheet and click on the chart.
  2. In the top right, click the dropdown arrow.
  3. Select Advanced edit.
  4. In the window that appears, click Chart types.
  5. Check the box next to "Switch rows/columns" to switch the order of the data.
Include hidden or filtered data in a chart

To include data in your chart that has been hidden or filtered in a spreadsheet:

  1. Open a spreadsheet and click on the chart.
  2. In the top right, click the dropdown arrow.
  3. Select Advanced edit.
  4. In the window that appears, select the Chart types tab.
  5. Check the box next to "Include hidden/filtered data."
  6. To remove this data from the chart, uncheck the box again.
See chart data uncertainty

You can see the level of certainty you have about your data points with Line, Area, and Scatter charts.

Example

Let’s say that you want to visualize stock prices over the course of a week. Because it’s Wednesday, you know what the stock prices were for Monday and Tuesday. To show that the prices you’re listing for those days are certain, whereas the prices for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday are estimates, use a third column called “Certainty” to your data table.

Step 1: Set up your data

  • Column 1: Day of the week (Monday through Friday)
  • Column 2: Average stock price.
  • Column 3: Certainty. Use “True” to indicate certainty and “False” to indicate uncertainty.

Step 2: Insert a chart

  1. On the toolbar, click Insert and then Chart.
  2. Click the "Chart types" tab and select a compatible chart.
  3. Click the "Customization" tab.
  4. In the "Effects" section, select how you want to see the data points:
    • Dashes: By showing the uncertain data points in dashes
    • Gray out: By graying out the uncertain data points
    • Emphasis: By emphasizing (bolding) the certain points against the uncertain ones

Mary is a Docs & Drive expert and author of this help page. Leave her feedback below about the page.

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