Analytics Made Accessible

View Original

How to Align Chart Axis Labels

Ama Nyame-Mensah
GIF showing how to align category Y axis labels in PowerPoint in Four Steps. Step 1: Copy and paste your chart from Excel into Word (or PowerPoint). Step 2: Select Y-axis text labels. Step 3: Under the Format menu, select Paragraph. Step 4: When the Paragraph dialog box appears, change Alignment to Right and (because I like things to look semi-symmetrical), under Indentation, change Special to First Line and By to 0.5..

I love Excel. I really do. Excel is a powerful tool for data visualization. But if there is one thing that irks me about Excel, it is that you cannot align Y-axis text labels.

Seriously, who thought that was a good idea? (I'm talking to you, Microsoft.) And nothing looks more unprofessional and out of place than unaligned text.

Seriously, look at this chart:

Image of small multiples bar chart in PowerPoint showing the percentage of respondents who agreed (first column of bars in red), disagreed (second column of bars in blue), or were neutral (third column of bars in grey) to a series of statements, with centered aligned Y axis labels.

Thankfully, there is a workaround you can implement in Word and PowerPoint:

Step 1: Copy and paste your chart from Excel into Word (or PowerPoint).

(I am not a fan of Excel-linked charts. I prefer to create charts directly in Word/PowerPoint. So, for this step, you could recreate the chart in your software of choice.)

Small multiples bar chart showing the percentage of respondents who agreed (first column of bars in red), disagreed (second column of bars in blue), or were neutral (third column of bars in grey) to a series of statements.

Step 2: Select Y-axis text labels.

Image of small multiples bar chart in PowerPoint showing the percentage of respondents who agreed (first column of bars in red), disagreed (second column of bars in blue), or were neutral (third column of bars in grey) to a series of statements, with the Y axis labels selected.

Step 3: Under the Format menu, select Paragraph.

Image of PowerPoint's format menu, with the Paragraph option selected.

Step 4: When the Paragraph dialog box appears, change Alignment to Right and (because I like things to look semi-symmetrical), under Indentation, change Special to First Line and By to 0.5.

Image of PowerPoint's Paragraph dialog box. Alignment is set to Right, Special is set to First line, and By is set to 0.5 inches.

And Voila:

Image of small multiples bar chart in PowerPoint showing the percentage of respondents who agreed (first column of bars in red), disagreed (second column of bars in blue), or were neutral (third column of bars in grey) to a series of statements, with the category Y axis labels properly aligned: right justified.

Much better.

Alignment is a simple concept with a BIG impact.

Adjusting alignment can make a substantial difference in the readability of your design and make your visualization look more polished and professional.