Chart Data Tables are actually very useful for showing plotted values without inundating your audience with a gaggle of chart labels. I use them all the time.
My problem with them is that their uglier than a bag of lips. For all their usefulness, they sure do emit that "1997" feel. Luckily, Excel gives you a few options that help dial back the "ugly" on your chart Data Tables.
Here's an example chart where a Data Table comes in handy. As you can see, we've got lots of data here – far too much for data labels. The Data Table below the chart does help show the data, but the default format is hideous.
We can fix that easily by right-clicking the data table and selecting Format Data Table. This will open a dialog box where we can select how the Data Table layout looks. The choices are limited, but they're enough to make a notable difference. Here, I've chosen to hide the outline and vertical lines.
The result is a Data Table that looks a bit cleaner.
Now go off and fix all those charts you've been passing around. I'll wait here.
Hi Mike. While better, I still think it's far from ideal, as you have to move your eye quite a bit to match the data up with the different series. Also, the order of the data table ('People Count' on top, '% Labor Cost' underneath) doesn't match the order of the graph series ('% Labor Cost' on top, 'People Count' underneath).
Plus I'm not a fan of the dual axis.
Someone once said that sometimes two charts are better than one. Perhaps this is a candidate for two…or even three if you want to also show the relationship between the variables:
http://screencast.com/t/ZTAwNGVjOG
…mind you, my version takes up a heck of a lot more space. Perhaps if you just color coded your axis and data table so it's clearer which refers to which? (Have to use underlying spreadsheet cells to do this, as excel won't let you individually format the different data table data rows as far as I can tell)
http://screencast.com/t/OTk1ZGJlNGY
I notice that when the Data Table is visible, the format controls for the category axis font are not available, they are the same as the Data Table controls.
I prefer embedding the display of table data in spreadsheet cells and placing the chart above it. Kind of a fiddle to line them up, but full flexibility. (I don't like Chart sheets, so no loss to me).
I'd like to utilize this for a waterfall chart, is there a way to only include partial data in the data table?
Jeff: Good tip about the different colors. It does make things easier to see.
I have always found data tables in charts to be almost worthless. Partly this is due to their inflexibility: you can't choose what to put into them, and you can't do much about formatting them. Partly it's due to the redundancy of putting all the data you've plotted into a table right in the same place. If you need the table to show the data, do you need to fix up the chart, or do you even need the chart? Or can you spirit the table off to an appendix for the anal-retentive manager who needs to see the numbers.