Comments on: Add a Target Line

By: Brandon

Brandon — Wed, 27 Apr 2011 16:12:33 +0000

Thank you very much for your help!!!! I have learned several new techniques which I have employed in practice.

By: Jon Peltier

Jon Peltier — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 21:06:23 +0000

Frank -

A pivot chart cannot use data that is outside the pivot table, so using this approach to indicate a goal in a pivot chart is next to impossible.

I just revised my post “Making Regular Charts from Pivot Tables” (http://peltiertech.com/WordPress/regular-charts-from-pivot-tables/) which shows how to plot pivot data without the constraints of a pivot chart. Go there, make a regular chart, then come back here, and annotate it.

By: Frank

Frank — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 18:26:44 +0000

Can you create a goal/target line, using a pivot table chart?

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 12:29:57 +0000

That’s what I was beginning to suspect.

Thanks, Jon.

By: Jon Peltier

Jon Peltier — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 04:49:51 +0000

Kevin -

The charting app that’s built into PowerPoint and Word (MS Graph) does not have nearly the same flexibility as Excel’s charts. All the data has to be in the same block of data in that data table, so you can’t add series using arbitrary data. That means a great many of my tricks just aren’t going to work in MS Graph.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 04:27:28 +0000

Jon,

Thanks for this. Is there any way to use a similar procedure to add a target (vertical) line to a stacked bar (horizontal) chart created in Powerpoint 2003? It doesn’t have the same functionality as Excel, so I’m wondering if your procedure can be translated somehow to work in a Powerpoint chart?

Been trying to make this work for three days. Would really appreciate your help.

Thanks a lot,
Kevin