How do I resize the boxes in a graph legend in Excel?

[Guest]

I am trying to change the size and shape of the boxes in a legend. By
default, they are small squares but I have seen graphs where they are
rectangular which makes it easier to identify the colour.

 

[Andy Pope]

Hi,

I can only alter the size of the legend entry marker by increasing the
size of the legend font. This however will only make the square larger
not rectangular.

A quick test would indicate the changing the size of the marker in line
or xyscatter has a slight effect on the marker size.

Is it possible that the legend was created manually in the charts you
have seen?

Cheers
Andy

 

[Debra Dalgleish]

Pasting images on a column chart can have a more noticeable effect on
the legend boxes. When I changed one series, the legend boxes for the
remaining series became rectangles.

Jon Peltier has instructions on his web site:

http://www.peltiertech.com/Excel/ChartsHowTo/CustomStacks.html

 

[Andy Pope]

Hi Debra,

You're right. Using a custom marker does make the markers rectangular.

I tried using an additional data series to hold the custom marker so you
can still format the actual columns as normal. This, as expected, adds
an additional item to the legend. Unfortunately if you try and remove
this the other entries revert to squares.
But, if you don't mind losing the border around the legend you can use a
autoshape with no fill and no border as a custom marker. Set the extra
data series name to ="" and the legend entry vanishes. Leaving
rectangular legend markers.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Andy Pope]

Check the link Debra gave for details.

Thanks

It looks like that was how it was done. The graph i saw the rectangles in
also had custom markers. How do you make a data series a custom marker?

Disco

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