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In Excel, you can add predefined series lines, drop lines, high-low lines and up-down bars to make a specific charts (such as 2-D stacked bar and column charts, line charts, pie of pie and bar of pie charts, area charts, and stock charts) easier to read. If you no longer need the lines or bars, you can remove them.

For more information about drawing your own lines, see Draw or delete a line, connector, or freeform shape.

• Learn about predefined lines and bars that you can add to a chart

• Add predefined lines or bars to a chart

• Remove predefined lines or bars from a chart

Learn about predefined lines and bars that you can add to a chart

Depending on the chart type that you use, you can add one of the following lines or bars:

• Series lines  These lines connect the data series (data series: Related data points that are plotted in a chart. Each data series in a chart has a unique color or pattern and is represented in the chart legend. You can plot one or more data series in a chart. Pie charts have only one data series.) in 2-D stacked bar and column charts to emphasize the difference in measurement between each data series. Pie of pie and bar of pie charts display series lines by default to connect the main pie chart with the secondary pie or bar chart.

  

• Drop lines  Available in 2-D and 3-D area and line charts, these lines extend from data points (data points: Individual values plotted in a chart and represented by bars, columns, lines, pie or doughnut slices, dots, and various other shapes called data markers. Data markers of the same color constitute a data series.) to the horizontal (category) axis to help clarify where one data marker (data marker: A bar, area, dot, slice, or other symbol in a chart that represents a single data point or value that originates from a worksheet cell. Related data markers in a chart constitute a data series.) ends and the next data marker starts.

  

• High-low lines  Available in 2-D line charts and displayed by default in stock charts, high-low lines extend from the highest value to the lowest value in each category.

  

• Up-down bars  Useful in line charts with multiple data series, up-down bars indicate the difference between data points in the first data series and the last data series. By default, these bars are also added to stock charts, such as Open-High-Low-Close and Volume-Open-High-Low-Close.

  

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Add predefined lines or bars to a chart

1. Click the 2-D stacked bar, column, line, pie of pie, bar of pie, area, or stock chart to which you want to add lines or bars.

   This displays the Chart Tools, adding the Design, Layout, and Format tabs.

2. On the Layout tab, in the Analysis group, do one of the following:
   • Click Lines, and then click the line type option that you want.

      Note   Different line type options are available for different chart types.

   • Click Up/Down Bars, and then click Up/Down Bars.

 Tip   You can change the format of the series lines, drop lines, high-low lines, or up-down bars that you display in a chart. For more information, see Format chart elements.

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Remove predefined lines or bars from a chart

1. Click the 2-D stacked bar, column, line, pie of pie, bar of pie, area, or stock chart that displays predefined lines or bars.

   This displays the Chart Tools, adding the Design, Layout, and Format tabs.

2. On the Layout tab, in the Analysis group, click Lines or Up/Down Bars, and then click None to remove lines or bars from a chart.

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      Tip   You can also remove lines or bars immediately after you add them to the chart by clicking Undo on the Quick Access Toolbar or by pressing CTRL+Z.

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