Plotting Data with Excel

This page provides a brief primer on how to plot your data files with Excel. It is not intended to be a comprehensive description of the Excel software package - if you have outstanding questions, or would like to learn more features of the software, please refer to the Excel Help Menu (Help — Contents and Index), or consult one of the many excellent tutorials available on the web. Some recommended sites are listed in the References section of this document.

Opening Your Data Files

The data files available for you to download will be in zipped .csv format. To open these with Excel, you should:

• Unzip the files using WinZip. WinZip is often included in the Windows Office installation, but you can download a free evaluation version here.
• Open the .csv file with Excel. Usually you can do this by simply double-clicking on the .csv file icon. Alternatively, you can launch Excel, then open the file from the File Menu. Choose File — Open..., locate the directory containing your data files, and make sure All files (*.*) of Text Files (*.prn, *.txt, *.csv) is selected in the Files of type: input field.

Plotting Your Data with the Chart Wizard

The Chart Wizard enables you to create many different types of plots for your data. In this section, we only describe how to create a very basic plot - we encourage you to experiment with the Chart Wizard options, and to find more sophisticated ways of displaying your data.

• Select the columns (or rows) of data that you wish to plot. This selection can be modified later in the Source Data tab of the Wizard..
• Click on the Chart Wizard icon:
• The first dialogue box of the Wizard displays the Chart Type options. Choose XY Scatter, and whichever of the chart subtypes you prefer. Click Next.
• The second dialogue box of the Wizard displays the Source Data options. The Data Range tab is easiest to use if you only want to plot the columns of data against a constant quantity, such as time or number frequency. The Series tab is easiest to use if you want to plot different columns of data against each other.
  • For the Data Range tab: Click on the Get Data From Spreadsheet icon at the far right of the Data Range: input field . With the mouse, select the data you wish to plot, then click on the Return to Wizard icon . Check whether the data you are plotting is presented in columns or rows. Click Next.
  • For the Series tab: For the X values of the data points on your plot, click on the Get Data From Spreadsheet icon at the far right of the X Values: input field . With the mouse, select the data you wish to appear as the X values, then click on the Return to Wizard icon . Repeat this step for the Y values.
    Give your data series a name in the Name: input field (this can be selected from a data cell on your spreadsheet).
    To plot multiple series of data points on a single graph, click on the Add button under the Series input window, and repeat the above steps for your additional data series. You can also remove a data series from your plot by highlighting its name in the Series input window and clicking the Remove button. Click Next.

• The third dialogue box of the Wizard displays the Chart Options. These tabs allow you to edit the appearance and labelling of your graph, e.g. choosing a chart title and axes labels, positioning the legend, and changing the resolution of your gridlines. When you have completed this step, click Next.
• The fourth and final dialogue box of the Wizard determines the Chart Location. Choose whether you would like your plot to appear on the same worksheet as data or on a separate worksheet, then click Finish.

Some Final Comments...

• If you modify the data on your worksheet, your plot should update automatically to reflect the new values.
• To modify the appearance of your plot after it has been created, double click on the chart element you wish to edit, or right-click anywhere on the chart and choose the element you wish to modify from the drop-down menu.
• Remember that most Windows shortcut keys such as CTRL-C for copy and CTRL-V for paste, will also work in Excel.

Excel References

The Help menu of Excel should provide the answer to most questions (choose Help — Contents and Index for the proper Help menu, Help — Microsoft Excel Help will simply launch the PaperClip). However, you might also like to refer to the following Excel references on the web:

• Microsoft's Excel Homepage
  http://www.microsoft.com/office/excel/using/default.asp
• University of South Dakota Excel Tutorial
  http://www.usd.edu/trio/tut/excel/
• Department of Computer Science at The University of Rhode Island Excel Tutorial
  http://homepage.cs.uri.edu/tutorials/csc101/pc/excel97/excel.html
• Florida Gulf Coast University Excel Tutorial
  http://www.fgcu.edu/support/office2000/excel/
• Tutor Via Computer Baycon Group Excel Tutorial
  http://www.baycongroup.com/excel.htm
• Florida Atlantic University Excel Tutorial
  http://www.edtechnorth.fau.edu/4810web/excel.htm

Other References

• WinZip HomePage
  http://www.winzip.com
• Google
  http://www.google.com
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© Swinburne Copyright and disclaimer information
Maintained by: Rebecca Allen (rebeccaallen@swin.edu.au)
Authorised by: Prof. Jean Brodie (jbrodie@swin.edu.au)
Monday, 19-Nov-2007 11:20:02 AEDT