Calc Guide

Moving chart elements

You may wish to move or resize individual elements of a chart,

independent of other chart elements. For example, you may wish to

move the legend to a different place. Pie charts allow moving of

individual wedges of the pie (in addition to the choice of “exploding”

the entire pie).

1) Double-click the chart so that it is enclosed by a gray border.

2) Double-click any of the elements—the title, the legend, or the

chart graphic. Click and drag to move the element. If the element

is already selected, then move the pointer over the element to get

the move icon (small hand), then click, drag and move the

element.

3) Release the mouse button when the element is in the desired

position.

Note

If your graphic is 3D, round red handles appear which control

the three-dimensional angle of the graphic. You cannot resize or

reposition the graphic while the round red handles are showing.

With the round red handles showing, Shift + Click to get the

green resizing handles. You can now resize and reposition your

3D chart graphic. See the following tip.

Tip

You can resize the chart graphic using its green resizing handles

(Shift + Click, then drag a corner handle to maintain the

proportions). However, you cannot resize the title or the key.

Changing the chart area background

The chart area is the area surrounding the chart graphic, including the

(optional) main title and key.

1) Double-click the chart so that it is enclosed by a gray border.

2) Choose Format > Chart Area.

3) On the Chart Area dialog (Figure 63), choose the desired format

settings.

On the Area tab, you can change the color, or choose a hatch pattern,

bitmap or some preset gradients. Click on the drop-down box to see

the options. Patterns are probably more useful than color if you have to

print out your chart in black and white.

You can also use the Transparency tab to change the area’s

transparency. If you used a preset gradient from the Area tab, you can

see the different parameters of which it is composed.

86 OpenOffice.org 3.x Calc Guide