How do I change the Legend key shape in Excel 2003 Bar charts?

**lwalsh65** · 04-29-2009, 04:16 PM

I have a bar chart that reflects calls received as a little blue square shap in the legend. I would like to change the little square to a rectangle shape like my other charts. I did not do any speciatl formatting in the other chart. Both charts are a bar chart. I am unable to change the properties when selecting the blue square, How can I change the shape in the chart legend??

**teylyn** · 04-29-2009, 04:31 PM

Hi,

in my Excel 2003 the legend always shows a square. Can you post an example of a chart that has a rectangle in the legend?

**lwalsh65** · 04-30-2009, 03:57 PM

Hi Teylyn,
Here is the chart.

Thanks for your response.

**teylyn** · 04-30-2009, 10:53 PM

Hi,

the rectangular shapes in the legend are in a combination chart that also has a series in a line chart type. Since the line in the legend is drawn out a bit, the other shapes in the legend follow the same format, thus resulting in a rectangular shape. If you have only bars or only columns in a chart, you will just see square shapes in the legend. As soon as you add a line series to your chart, the legend will show rectangles instead.

There's nothing in Excel 2003 to format the legend symbols manually.

cheers