Interactive Chart Titles

It has been two years since we took a look at one of the advanced (but very simple) ways to make the charts in your report Stand Out from the mundane masses.

Interactive (or dynamic) Chart Titles can be easily added to your charts to reflect the data being displayed.  For instance, if you have created a table of data that changes in accordance with the Employee Name shown in a Drop-Down Box (which is effortlessly generated by using Validation / List), you can Link the Chart Title to reflect the name chosen in the drop-down.

Here is How You Do This:

First of all, if your chart does not have a Title, do the following:

1.      Click anywhere in the chart

2.      On the Design tab, click a layout that contains a title from the Chart Layouts group

Now, on to the Adding the Interactive Title:

1.      Select the Chart Title

2.      Go to the Formula Bar and type an Equals Sign: “ = ”

3.      Then Select the Drop-Down Box Cell to which you want to link

4.      Note: The final cell reference formula should look something like: “=Sheet1!$C$3”

How Cool is That!  Now every time you change the Name or Value in the Drop-Down, the Chart Automatically Updates its Title! 

As they used to say in the 70’s, Far Out, Man!