Let's go to the ' Insert' tab and click on the ' text box' button. Add series labels: That legend on the right of the graph is just unsightly.Click on the 'Chart Title' at the top of your graph. Relabel: As awesome as 'Chart Title' is as the name of your graph, you probably want to change that.The screenshot below shows how the menu looks when you're adding labels. Add axis labels: Go to the ' Layout' tab on the top menu bar.Add a title: Go to the ' Layout' tab on the top menu bar.Let's see if we can make it look a little bit cleaner and easier to understand. Note that the colored labels are on the right and scrunch up the graph, neither axis is labeled, and the year/quarters seem to be jumping around at random on the x-axis. Note: This is is the default graph spewed out by Excel. Click on the 'Insert' tab.Īt this point, you should get a simple graph that looks like the one below. Once you've highlighted the rows you want, let go of 'ctrl' and go to the top menu bar.Also, click on the row number for the row with your time/date data. While holding down 'ctrl' I now press on the row number for Government Consumption Expenditures. I click on the row number for GDP, then press and hold 'ctrl.' With 'ctrl' pressed down I can also highlight other rows of data. Click on the the row number of the data you want to plot on your time series graph.Step 3: Select the Data and Insert a Graph I select and delete that pesky 'line column'.
