This requires VBA to add and remove the series from the chart, or to apply an autofilter that hides rows without data (Excel’s default is to skip plotting of hidden data). The other option is to skip the legend but label the series directly, as in Label Each Series in a Chart and Label Last Point for Excel 2007. When the series is suppressed, so is its label.

When creating a simple line chart, I have 5 series of data, to the left of the chart is an area (using data validation by list) which allows the user to choose what they want to appear on the chart. This is done by 5 drop down boxes.

If the user chooses a blank because they only want to show for example 4 series of data then choosing the blank obviously removes the data from the graph. However it still leaves the series line in the legend. So what I need to try and find out is how to remove the line series when a blank is selected and if something is selected then to put the series line back into the legend…….any ideas ?

I love this out-of-the-box stuff. Panel charts are out-of-the-box, and I’ve reached further out to use dummy series each with one point and a data label to construct a custom legend in the corner of each panel.

The dummy bubble series is helpful to make sure the bubble sizes are consistent from one chart to the next. Make a bubble with the largest value you’d expect in any of the charts and add it to all charts. This largest bubble scales all the bobbles in the charts. I wrote about this in Control Bubble Chart Bubble Sizes.

One other technique you (and Matt) might be interested in that I’ve used in the past is extra data series, for scatter charts or bubble charts. This was for when I wanted:

a) to comment on the meaning of error bars in a scatter chart. Making extra series lets me show and label a sample set of error bars.

b) to give a scale to bubble charts. Two or three sample bubbles would be labelled with their sizes, to enable the viewer to interpret the bubbles in the chart.

c) where I’ve used data labels instead of Excel symbols in scatter charts. Data labels can be much more complex in meaning than the small simplistic set of symbols available in Excel. But then I have to craft a custom legend for them.

d) as above, but where I’ve resorted to Autoshape drawings as symbols. This is fraught with potential for inaccuracy the way Excel draws shapes, but where I feel confident it works, I want a way to show the legend. Excel’s own legend facility produces awful squashed things in place of the proper shapes.

Lots of ways to skin a cat. Textboxes are pretty flexible, but a legend entry can be equally dynamic. Put the formula into the cell referenced as the series name.

If everything’s hidden, it will stay hidden. If a plot area is still visible, but behind the other chart’s plot area, any number of things may happen that cause the lower one to be seen.

Besides, your way won’t let you place both legends in front of the plot area the way my example shows.