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At 19:18 18/01/2021 -0500, Marianne Keating wrote:
I am using 4.4.7.2, under Windows 7, because it seems more than adequate for my purposes, and I am somewhat dismayed by the number of regressions noted for later versions in the comments here.

It's probably unwise to use any out-of-date software, which will not have been patched for security flaws and so on. Try a later version, notwithstanding regressions.

Calc chart legends. What could be simpler, yet more impossible? I have cracked this at sometime in the past, as I have just one spreadsheet with my own chart legend text in my choice of fonts, but can see no way of regaining that control for other charts in my armamentarium. If I right-click a chart, I am presented with 15 options.

First, what you see in the context menu depends on the current state of selection of the chart. What you are describing is the context menu seen when the chart is simply selected - so that it shows the eight coloured handles.

One is marked “Text”, which seems promising, but apparently deals with *positioning*, not content.

That's right: this deals with positioning of items generally.

The thing which it definitely lacks is any ability to control the legend text contents, or font.

To do that, you need to select the chart first.

If I double left-click ...

And that's how you select the chart - so that it shows a grey border.

... and then right-click, I now have 9 options, including one which will delete a legend, (leaving me unsure of what happens if the chart has more than one legend).

No problem: the legend is what labels the various data ranges, so charts have only one legend.

But, in any case, no control, beyond excision, over the legend text or its font.

To format the legend, first select the legend - so that *it* shows the eight coloured handles - and then use Format Legend... from the context menu.

When I double left-click, I get an interesting collection of mostly-graphic symbols at the bottom of my screen, ...

That's the Drawing toolbar.

One of these is a capital T in a dotted-line box, which, when hovered-over, reads: “Text Box”. Sounds promising, but what does it do, ...

It creates a (by default invisible) rectangular box to contain text.

... and how does one invoke whatever its action may be?

Click the "T" ("A" in the more recent version you should be using!). Note that the cursor (when in the chart) changes appearance. Drag the cursor to define the desired box.

None of these symbols can be dragged onto the chart, and clicking them – single or double, left or right – produces no obvious result of any kind.

First click; then drag in (not into) the chart.

They have interesting titles, and, if they did anything, might be quite useful.

You give the distinct impression that you have not read any of the documentation. Everything is in "Adding drawing objects to charts" in Chapter 3, "Creating Charts and Graphs" of the Calc Guide.

My first question, then, is: /how do I gain control over chart legend text & font?/

See above. (Though I think you may be asking not about the chart legend but instead axis titles, or even a chart title.)

And a subsidiary wonderment: /why is it so hard to find this answer?/

It's not. Again it's all in "Legends" and "Titles, subtitles, and axis names" in Chapter 3, "Creating Charts and Graphs", of the Calc Guide.

From the on-line manual:

Two points here:
o I find it easier not to use on-line facilities but instead to download the guides. If you choose the PDF versions, you can display them locally and easily search for what you require. o I'm not at all sure why you choose to copy lots of material from documentation in your message. Surely this is what *you* should be reading, not anyone offering to help you?

To edit a chart legend:
1. Double-click on the chart. A gray border appears around the chart and the menu bar now contains commands for editing the objects in the chart. 2. Choose Format - Legend or double-click on the legend. This opens the Legend dialog.
3. Choose from the available tabs to make modifications, then click OK.
This is no help, as the “available tabs” do *not* allow editing the text or font.

You can change the font on the Font tab. You can change the text by changing the contents of the spreadsheet cells that you originally included for this purpose. Alternatively you can use Data Ranges... from the context menu to allow you to change which cells are referenced.

From the on-line edition of the 4.1 Calc Guide we have, at ppg 88-89:
To add a legend to your chart:
[...]
To remove a legend from your chart:
[...]
Again, the user can add or remove, but not edit.

Well, just as advertised, then?!

Another dead-end source illuminates another Calc problem:
https://ask.libreoffice.org/en/question/...

There is no guarantee that answers on any forum - or indeed here on the Users mailing list - will be valuable or correct!

How *exactly* can I add a 2nd Y axis and assign different scale to it? Following the given instruction to “Double click on the chart, and then Menu/Insert/Axis, or right-click insert/delete axes” leads to a menu which allows up to 2 each Y, and 2 each X, axes, ...

Good: so tick Secondary axes | y-Axis.

... but shows no way to associate a set of figures with the added axes. It must also be possible to associate colours with the various traces, but how to do that remains equally a mystery.

Not a mystery if you read the documentation! Click on the relevant line or whatever in the chart (not on a point) and select Format Data Series... | Options | "Align Data Series to" from the context menu. Colour is set on the Line tab of the same dialogue.

It is worth saying that charts can be quite complicated, so you should expect first to obtain and consult the documentation and then to spend some time familiarising yourself with all the options.

I trust this helps.

Brian Barker


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