When making charts in Microsoft Excel, we need to add titles to the horizontal and vertical axis so the reader can know what the axis represents.
Excel is an excellent tool for creating charts, and it gives users great flexibility when it comes to customization. Users can easily add axis titles to both the horizontal and vertical axis.
In this tutorial, we will take a look at different methods on how to add axis titles to a chart in Excel.
As an example, we will add axis titles to a line chart that has been plotted using a data set in Excel, but the process will be similar for other chart types as well.
In addition to adding the axis title, the tutorial will also guide you on how to link the axis title to a cell in the worksheet and how to format and remove the axis title in Excel.
Method 1: Adding Axis Titles Using the Chart Elements
This method will guide you about adding axis titles using the Chart Elements option.
Note the Chart Elements option shows up when you select the chart. Let me explain the complete process by showing an example.
For example, I am going to use a sample dataset where pressure is shown in pascals against different heights in meters.
A chart of Height vs. Pressure has been plotted below.
As you can see, it is difficult for a reader to determine which quantity has been plotted on which axis.
Without any axis reference, the information is vague. Let’s add axis titles to both the horizontal and vertical axis.
To do so, follow the below steps:
- Left-Click on the chart to select it.
- Click on the Plus icon (Chart Elements), which appears next to the chart.
- This will open the Chart Elements menu. In the Chart Elements options, check the Axis Titles checkbox.
- Now you will see two text boxes appear beside the horizontal and vertical axis, as shown below. The default text in both these boxes will be Axis Title.
- Change the text in both text boxes as per your requirements. In this example, I will edit the horizontal axis text to Height (m) and the vertical axis text to Pressure (Pa), as shown below.
By following the above steps, you can easily change the axis title in Excel.
This is a straightforward way of changing the axis title that involves the least amount of steps.
However, there are other methods as well which are discussed in the coming sections.
Method 2: Adding Axis Titles Using the Chart Tools
You can also add axis titles to a chart using Chart Tools, which becomes available when you select a chart.
I am going to explain each step with the help of an example.
For example, I am going to use the following dataset, which is already described in the first two methods.
A chart of Height vs. Pressure has been plotted below.
Now follow the below-mentioned steps to add an axis title using the chart tools options.
- Left-Click on the chart to select it.
- Once selected, go to the Design tab, which appears on the ribbon as shown.
- Under the Design tab, select Add Chart Element drop-down.
- From the drop-down, click on the Axis Titles.
- Inside the Axis Titles sub-menu, select the Primary Horizontal axis title option.
- Doing so, a text box containing the primary horizontal Axis Title will appear under the chart’s horizontal axis.
- Click on the text box and change the text from Axis Title to Height (m) as shown.
- Repeat steps 1 to 6, and this time select the Primary Vertical option under the Axis Titles sub-menu.
- You will see a text box containing ‘Axis Title’ appears beside the chart’s vertical axis.
- Click on the text box and change the text from Axis Title to Pressure (Pa), as shown.
- The final result will look like the one below.
This is a bit lengthy method as compared to Method 1, but it provides you with an additional option.
Using this method, you can add either a horizontal or vertical axis to the chart. So this method is preferable when you want to add only one axis.
Method 3: Adding Axis Titles Using the Quick Layout Option
In this method, we will take a look at the Quick Layout option to add axis titles.
As an example, I am going to use the same dataset and chart which I used in the first method.
Below are the steps to change the axis title using the Quick Layout Option
- Left-Click on the chart to select it.
- In the toolbar, click on the Design tab.
- Under the Design tab, select the Quick Layout drop-down.
- A menu containing different chart layouts will appear as shown.
I am going to select the first layout, which will show the Axis Titles along with the Chart Title and Data Legend. Moreover, you can use any of the layouts.
- From the Quick Layout menu, select Layout 1 as shown.
- You will see that text boxes, containing the default ‘Axis Title’ text have appeared next to both the horizontal and vertical axis. Moreover, the Chart Title and Legend have also been added.
- Now change the text of the axis as per your desire. I am going to assign Height (m) to the horizontal axis and Pressure (Pa) to the vertical axis.
In this method, I showed you how to add axis titles using the Quick Layout option.
This method is preferable when you want to add other properties to the chart, like Titles, Legends, etc. Otherwise, if you want to add just the axis title, method 1 works perfectly in that case.
In the preceding section, I showed different methods of adding an axis title to the chart.
Now next sections will guide you on how to format the axis title, How to link the axis title to a cell, and how to remove the axis title.
How to Format Axis Title
This section will guide you on how you could format the axis title.
To show the complete process step by step, I am going to use the same chart described in the previous methods (where we have already added the primary horizontal and primary vertical axis titles).
- Left-Click on any Axis Title to select it.
- Right-Click on the Axis Title to bring up the context menu as shown.
- From this menu, select the ‘Format Axis Title’ option.
- The Format Axis Title panel will appear to the right.
Using this panel, you can apply any sort of formatting to your chart.
How to Remove Axis Title from Chart
This section will guide you on how you can remove the axis title. Let’s remove the Vertical Axis from the chart that I already applied to the chart.
- Left-Click on the chart to select it.
- Once selected, go to the Design tab, which now appears on the ribbon as shown.
- Under the Design tab, select the Add Chart Element drop-down.
- In the menu containing different chart elements that appear, click on the Axis Titles option.
- Inside the Axis Titles sub-menu, you will see that icons of both the Primary Horizontal and Primary Vertical options are highlighted. Consider these as checkboxes. If you click on any one, that particular Axis Title will be removed.
- From this sub-menu, select the Primary Vertical option to uncheck it. (In this case, we want to remove the vertical axis from the chart)
- The result will be as follows.
As you can see, the vertical Axis Title has been removed.
Similarly, you can remove the horizontal axis by unchecking the Primary horizontal option provided in step 5.
Shortcut: A faster way to quickly remove axis titles is to select it in the chart and then hit the delete key on your keyboard
How to Link Axis Title to a Cell in the Worksheet
Linking an Axis Title to a cell will display the cell’s contents in the Axis Title. Let’s see how to do that using the steps below.
- Left-Click on any Axis Title to select it.
- In the formula bar, type the equals (=) sign, then click on the cell which you want to link. (In this case, it is cell B1)
You will see that the Axis Title will now show whatever is written inside cell B1. In this case, the vertical Axis Title will read Pressure, which is written in cell B1.
Also, if you change the text in cell B1, you will notice that the axis title text automatically updates to reflect the same text
This tutorial has highlighted three methods of adding Axis Titles to charts in Excel.
All methods achieve the same result. Method 1 is the most straightforward, which involves a few easy steps to add an axis title.
However, you can choose any method as per your requirements. Like, you can use Method 2 when you want to just add any of the horizontal or vertical axes. Likewise, other methods have advantages of their own that are explained in detail.
This article also explains how you can format and remove an existing axis title.
Moreover, in the last section, I explained how you could link the axis title to a cell in the worksheet, which helps in applying a column heading as an axis title to the chart.
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