Labeling Legends in Google SheetsStep-by-Step Guide
Google Sheets allow users to create a diverse range of charts to display their data in a visual format.
These charts are an effective tool for comprehending variations, ratios, and patterns within your data.
However, simply showing a chart with multiple columns or lines of various colors is not sufficient.
It is crucial for the person viewing your chart to understand its meaning. To facilitate this, it is essential to include a legend that explains the importance of each line, shape, or color in the chart.
While Google Sheets does give the option to add legends with labels to charts, the default labels may not be to your liking.
This guide will demonstrate how to add labels to legends in Google Sheets charts if they are not already present. Additionally, it will show you how to alter various label settings, such as positioning, formatting, and text.
Building a Chart Using a Given Data Set
Before discussing label legends, let’s briefly review the process of creating a chart from a given data set.
If you are already familiar with this, feel free to move on to the next section.
Suppose you have the following data and want to create a pie chart to see the percentage of total sales each employee contributed:
Simply follow the instruction below to create a chart:
- Click the data
- Go to Insert -> Chart in the menu.
- This will insert a chart and the Chart Editor will appear on the right side of the window.
- To change the type of chart, select the desired chart type from the Chart Type drop-down in the Chart Editor.
Labeling Legends in Google Sheets Charts
When adding labels to a legend in Google Sheets, there are several factors to take into account.
Not only will you need to include the labels, but you may also need to edit and adjust their positioning as well.
Instructions for Adding Labels to Legends in Google Sheets
Most charts automatically come with a label legend when they are created.
However, if the label legend is not present, you can add it by taking the following steps:
- In the Chart editor, select the ‘Setup’ tab and check the ‘Add Label’ box under the ‘Label’ section.
- Choose the cell range that contains your chart data.
Your selected data should now be displayed as labels in the chart. 
- To remove the labels, simply uncheck the box labeled ‘Use column as labels’ located at the bottom of the Chart editor.
Note: To open the Chart editor at any time, you can simply double-click on the chart. As an alternative, you can single-click on the chart, select the three dots icon on the top left, and choose ‘Edit the chart’ from the resulting menu.
Adjusting or Modifying the Location of the Legend in Your Chart
If you are not satisfied with the location or appearance of the legend in your chart, you can adjust it as follows:
- Go to the ‘Customize’ tab in the Chart editor.
- Choose the ‘Legend’ section.
- Select the desired position from the drop-down under ‘Position’.
- This will set the legend to be displayed in the chosen location.
Note: You have the option to not display the legend by selecting the ‘None’ option from the Position options.
Customizing the Formatting of a Legend in Google Sheets Chart
Google Sheets Chart editor offers a range of options to format the text in your labels. To change the font size, color, or type of legend text, follow the steps below:
- Go to the ‘Customize’ tab in the Chart editor.
- Select the ‘Legend’ section.
- If you want to change the font type of the legend, choose a font from the drop-down under ‘Legend font’.
- To adjust the font size, select a size from the drop-down under ‘Legend font size’.
- To make the legend text bold or italicized, toggle the ‘B’ and/or ‘I’ buttons under ‘Legend format’.
- To change the color of the legend text, choose a color from the drop-down under ‘Text color’.
Note: By following the above steps, you will be able to change the text format for all the legend labels. If you wish to change the text for a specific label, you can double-click on the label in the chart legend. This will open the ‘Text Formatting’ options for that label, allowing you to format it as desired.
Editing the Text of Legend Labels in Google Sheets Charts
Google Sheets allows you to edit the text of each individual legend label, in case the default labels do not suit your needs.
Here’s the step-by-step process for doing this:
- Double-click on the label you want to edit within the chart.
- This will open the ‘Text Formatting’ options for that individual label in the Chart editor.
- In the input field labeled ‘Text label’, enter the new text you want to use.
- You can also change the formatting for that specific label by choosing your desired font family, size, style, and color.
Here is an example of how the chart may appear after all of the desired settings have been applied:
How to Troubleshoot and Resolve the Issue of Missing Legend Labels in Google Sheets Charts
If the legend labels in your Google Sheets chart are not displaying any text, there are a few things you can do.
One option is to individually add text to the legend labels using the steps outlined above.
Another option would be to ensure that the titles in your spreadsheet are properly labeled as they are automatically added to the chart.
Additionally, if you are using a column chart and want the legend to display information about data on the x-axis, you can switch the chart axes by going to the Setup tab in the Chart editor and checking the box for “Switch rows/columns” in the Series section.
Conclusion
In this tutorial, we discussed how to add labels to legends in Google Sheets charts in order to improve the understanding of the data presented.
We covered various methods such as adding labels automatically and customizing the font, size, and color of the labels.
Additionally, we also covered steps to change the position of the legend and what to do when the legend labels are not showing.
We hope this guide was helpful in adding clarity to your data visualizations.