[Solved] Can't move legend; Makes graphs tiny

[MrProgrammer]

I apologize for pestering, but I'm having trouble with graphs in Calc and can't seem to find the solution to this issue.

My charts sort of minimize themselves to about 1/4th of the area of their designated region. I can click on them and then they fill the screen again, but when I click off they go right back to tiny. Makes it impossible to look at my data, very frustrating.

I figured out that the problem is the legend: it automatically puts the legend WAY down in the southeast corner, FAR out of range of the graph. I never told it to do so, and because I can't both have the box clicked on and see or select the legend (because when it comes back to normal size the legend is far outside the box area), I can't move the legend back to any reasonable range (like anywhere near the chart at all).

Very frustrating, please assist if you can.

[FJCC]

Can you post a small file with an example? To upload a file, click Post Reply and look for the Upload Attachment tab just below the box where you type a response.

[MrProgrammer]

I figured out that the problem is the legend: it automatically puts the legend WAY down in the southeast corner, FAR out of range of the graph. I never told it to do so, and because I can't both have the box clicked on and see or select the legend (because when it comes back to normal size the legend is far outside the box area), I can't move the legend back to any reasonable range (like anywhere near the chart at all).

Your OpenOffice Calc Pie Chart topic seems to be the same difficulty, six years ago. When you create topics like this it would help if you attach a document demonstrating the difficulty (remove confidential information then use Post Reply, not Quick Reply, and don't attach a picture instead of the document itself). You will find that you get more accurate assistance that way, and your problem will be solved sooner, but meanwhile let's start with this.

Working with charts, there are two modes:
• Spreadsheet mode with menu File Edit View Insert Format Tools Data Window Help
• Chart mode with menu File Edit View Insert Format Tools Window Help
Note that chart mode does not have a Data menu. Enter chart mode by double-clicking the chart object in the spreadsheet. Enter spreadsheet mode by single-clicking a cell in the spreadsheet. In chart mode, the spreadsheet's chart object is the Chart Area.

I've identified five parts of a simple chart object: Chart, Legend, Data Series, X axis, and Y axis. There is a sixth piece, the Chart Area, which is the region enclosed by the blue box. All the parts of the object can be formatted separately using the chart object formatting toolbar (View → Toolbars → Formatting). Be sure to note the distinction between Chart and Chart Area. When you are posting, please use the correct term in reference to your difficulty.

If you select the Legend of the chart object by single-clicking it, you can press F4 to open the Size and Position dialog. If your Legend is not near your Chart, you can set it to be closer. You may want to first review the position and size of the Chart to you know what adjustments you'd like to make to the Legend. In my chart, I can also move the Legend by single-clicking it, then dragging with the mouse. If your Legend is so far away from your Chart that you cannot view both at the same time, you can use View → Zoom and set a smaller Zoom Factor.

Other adjustments you may need to make so that the chart object displays as you want:
• If the Chart occupies only a small portion of the Chart Area, you can single-click the Chart and use F4 to change the position and size within the area. In my Chart Area I can also change the size of the Chart by dragging the sides of its bounding box with the mouse, and I can move the Chart by dragging with the mouse. Use View → Zoom if needed.
• If the chart object size or position needs to be changed on your spreadsheet, you must return to spreadsheet mode. You cannot change the Chart Area position and size in chart mode. Now single-click the chart object. Use Format → Graphic → Position and Size to change the position and size. On my spreadsheet I can also change the size of the chart object by dragging the sides of the bounding box with the mouse, and I can move the chart object by dragging with the mouse. Use View → Zoom if needed.

A lot of this is covered in Ch3 - Using Charts and Graphs and you will want to review that since it may help you get the results you want.

If this solved your problem please go to your first post use the Edit button and add [Solved] to the start of the title. You can select the green checkmark icon at the same time.