Move Excel Charts Using Arrow Keys

This article contains many tips for moving charts and shapes using the arrow keys. Knowing these tips is very useful, especially when you need to arrange and align several shapes on a sheet at once.

Move chart using arrow keys

Usually, when a diagram is selected with the mouse, the following box appears around it:

If the chart is selected in this way, then an attempt to move it around the sheet by pressing the arrow keys will not succeed. Instead, we will iterate over the objects inside the chart. And this is not what we need!

Decision No.1

Holding down a key Ctrl, left-click on the diagram – this will select the shape object in which the diagram is located. In this case, characteristic circles will appear at the corners of the graph.

Now the chart can be moved around the sheet using the arrow keys, which makes it easy to align it with other shapes, charts or cells on the worksheet.

Decision No.2

Select multiple charts or shapes – by holding the key Ctrl, select two or more charts with the left mouse button. The frame will look like only one chart per sheet is selected, but now all selected charts can be moved using the arrow keys.

Moving and creating shapes inside a chart

Moving shapes around within a chart can cause some confusion. Shapes (such as text boxes or rectangles) can be placed in two places:

• or inside the chart object,
• or on a sheet (outside the chart).

The difficulty lies in the fact that a figure located on a worksheet outside the diagram can be placed on top of this very diagram and give the impression that it is inside it, although in fact it is not. In this case, if you select only the diagram when moving, the figure will remain in its place.

If the figure is located inside the diagram, then it will move with it. This makes it easier to move and align charts because you don’t have to worry about each object being selected when you align or move.

There are two ways to place shapes inside a chart:

1. Create a shape inside the chart. To do this, first select the diagram so that a characteristic frame appears around it, and then create the desired shape using Insert > Figures (Insert > Shapes).
2. Paste the copied shape inside the diagram. To do this, copy the shape that already exists on the sheet, then select the chart and paste the shape. Thus, the figure will be inside the chart.

Move a shape inside a chart using the arrow keys

Now that the shape is inside the chart, you can use the arrow keys to move and align it with other objects in the chart (title, axes, legend, etc.) See instructions below.

To move a shape within a chart using the arrow keys, do the following:

1. Hold down the key Ctrl and left-click on the border of the diagram so that circles appear in the corners.
2. Then press again Ctrl and left click on the shape inside the chart. In this case, the marker in the upper left corner of the diagram should remain in place.
3. Now, using the arrows on the keyboard, you can move and align the shape within the diagram.

Conclusion

Now you can perfectly align charts and shapes with short arrow movements, which is very helpful when creating multiple charts on one sheet. In future articles, I will share new tricks and tricks for aligning and viewing charts.

What kind of chart alignment do you use?