Hiding a Chart's Legend

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated January 30, 2014)

A chart's legend is used to explain the various colors or patterns used in a chart. By default, Sheets displays a legend with charts you create. You, however, may not want to include a chart. For instance, it may not make sense to include a chart if there are so few data series in your chart that it is self-explanatory.

To get rid of the chart legend, follow these steps:

  1. Insert your chart as you normally would.
  2. Click once on the legend area of the chart. Sheets displays a control area for the legend. (See Figure 1.)

    3. Figure 1. Modifying the legend location.

  3. Click the positioning control, which defaults to Right. Sheets displays a variety of locations where it can place the legend.
  4. Click once on the None option. (Yes, Sheets apparently considers "None" a location.) Sheets immediately hides the legend.
  5. Click elsewhere in your spreadsheet to accept your changes.

If you later want to display a legend you previously hid, right-click anywhere in the chart and choose Legend from the resulting Context menu. The legend is immediately displayed and you can make changes to its appearance, as desired.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He  is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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