Reordering the Display of a Data Series

When you create a chart in Excel, you may have a need to change the order in which the data series are displayed in the chart. One way to do this, of course, is to change the order of the data in the underlying worksheet range. For instance, you can sort the data in the worksheet range, and the change in order should be reflected in the chart based on that data.

Another way is to manually customize the chart to rearrange the data series. Follow these steps if you are using a version of Excel prior to Excel 2007:

1. Right-click on one of the data series that you want to move. Excel displays a Context menu.
2. Select the Format Data Series option from the Context menu. Excel displays the Format Data Series dialog box.
3. Make sure the Series Order tab is displayed. (Click here to see a related figure.)
4. Click on Move Up or Move Down to move the data series to a new relative location.
5. If desired, select another data series in the Series Order list and repeat step 4.
6. When finished, click on OK.

If you are using Excel 2007 then the process is different. Follow these steps:

1. Right-click on one of the data series that you want to move. Excel displays a Context menu.
2. Select the Select Data option from the Context menu. Excel displays the Select Data Source dialog box. (Click here to see a related figure.)
3. In the list of data series at the left of the dialog box, click once on the one you want to move.
4. Use the Up Arrow and Down Arrow buttons to reposition the selected data series.
5. When finished, click OK.