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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Printing a Bookmark List

Need to know what bookmarks are defined in a document? Here's a macro that creates a list of all your bookmarks so that ...

Discover More

Jumping to a Relative Section

Navigating through a long document can be challenging, at times. Here's a way you can move forward or backwards in your ...

Discover More

Diagonal Borders in a Conditional Format

Conditional formatting is a great tool for changing how your data looks based on the data itself. Excel won't allow you ...

Discover More
More DriveTips

Merging Cells

One of the layout tools that Sheets provides allows you to merge together a group of cells. Here's how to use that tool.

Discover More

Adding Stock Information

Adding stock information to a spreadsheet is a common need. Rather than enter information manually, why not let Sheets ...

Discover More

Copying a Spreadsheet

There are times when you don't want to mess up a spreadsheet, but you want to try out some changes. This is when making a ...

Discover More
Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 6 + 8?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR AUTHORS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2020 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.