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Task 4:  Enlarge the chart and preview the report

You usually need to enlarge a chart after you finish designing it in the chart builder. The size of the default pie chart cannot accommodate all the Classic Model data, so you resize the chart in the layout editor. You need to look at a preview in the report editor to ensure that the size of the chart is appropriate.

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Figure 14-8 Chart element displayed in the layout editor

Figure 14-8  Chart element displayed in the layout editor
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Choose Preview to preview the report in the report editor. The chart appears small, relative to the report page. Also in this case, the chart element is too small to accommodate all the legend data. The preview truncates the some of the labels and you cannot see Vintage Cars at all.

Figure 14-9 Previewing cramped chart before enlargement

Figure 14-9  Previewing cramped chart before enlargement
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To make the chart bigger so that all the data is visible and not so cramped, choose Layout, and enlarge the chart element to approximately 5 inches wide and 3 inches tall. To enlarge the chart, select it, then drag the handles that appear in the borders of the chart element, as shown in Figure 14-10.

Figure 14-10 Enlarging a chart element

Figure 14-10  Enlarging a chart element
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Figure 14-11 Previewing chart after enlargement

Figure 14-11  Previewing chart after enlargement

Compare the preview in Figure 14-11 with the preview in Figure 14-9, where Vintage Cars data is not visible.

The chart now uses the correct data, but the layout is not very attractive. You need to format the chart to make it visually appealing and to emphasize the points that you want. The remaining procedures in this tutorial help you to modify the chart. Some of the changes that you make include creating a new title, adjusting the data labels, and removing the legend.


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