Template Settings Details

Refer to this topic to determine which settings save what aspect of the chart. Not all of the settings listed below are necessarily available when you save a chart as a template. Only those settings that apply to the specific chart are available. For example, if the chart is a simple 2-D bar chart, the 3-D rotation setting is not available.

When the text refers to a template, it is assumed that the template is saved with the settings being discussed. Also, the target chart is the chart to which you are applying the template.

Layout

The layout settings include:

Chart size. Saves outer frame size and aspect ratio.

Text, data, and other frames. Saves size, location, and display order of all other frames, including the legend frame. When you apply a template that includes a frame not in the target chart, the Chart Editor adds the frame to the chart. For example, you can use a template to add a title frame to the chart.

Orientation. Saves the orientation of the chart (horizontal versus vertical), which can change if the chart was transposed.

Text Content

The text content settings include:

Chart titles, footnotes, text boxes, annotations. Saves the text that appears in text boxes and annotations.

The text replaces the equivalent text for the corresponding frame in the target chart. These settings do not add text boxes to a chart if the target chart doesn't include a corresponding text box. However, the Chart Editor will add an annotation if it fits within the coordinates of the chart. Always save the layout when you save text.

The settings do not save data value labels.

Axis titles. Saves the text that appears in axis titles. The text replaces the axis titles in the target chart.

The settings do not save tick labels.

Styles

The styles settings specify:

Text formatting. Saves formatting for all text except the data value label text. This setting also controls whether automatic text resizing is used in the target chart.

Non-graphic element styles. The following settings specify the styles of elements that are not graphic elements or data value labels.

Fill and border style. Saves all attributes of fills and borders for all non-graphic element frames.
Line styles. Saves styles of all lines that are not graphic elements, including axis lines and optional lines (for example, reference lines).

Backplane and wireframe display. For 3-D charts, saves whether the backplane and wireframe are displayed.

Graphic element styles. The following settings specify the styles of graphic elements.

Simple charts. Graphic element styles (such as marker style) in charts without groups (simple charts).
Style cycles for grouped charts. Saves the graphic element style cycle (such as color cycle of markers) used to create the grouped chart. This was the style cycle used on the Charts tab of the Options dialog box (Edit menu in the Viewer) when the chart was created.
Optional display of lines and markers. Saves the display of markers on lines, areas, and difference areas. Also saves the display of lines on areas and difference areas.
Bar width and cluster width. Saves the width of graphic element bars and width of bar clusters.
Boxplot and error bar style. Specifies which option to display for boxplot and error bars (line, whisker, or bar) and saves the style of the line, whisker, or bar.
Depth of shadow/3-D effect. Saves the depth setting for shadow and 3-D effects on bars and pies with 3-D effects.
3-D rotation. Saves the 3-D rotation settings for true 3-D scatterplots and bar charts.
Pie charts. The child settings for pie charts save the position of the first slice and specify any exploded slices. The label text of the exploded slice must match the label text of the slice in the target chart.
Spikes. Saves the display of spikes in simple and 3-D scatterplots.

The template settings replace equivalent settings in the target chart. For example, if a line is red in the target chart but the template settings specify blue for the line color, the line becomes blue. In other cases, the settings merge. For example, if a line is red in the target chart and the template settings specify a weight of 4 for the line, the line appears as red with a weight of 4. If the template settings do not include an equivalent setting in the target chart, the chart does not change.

Axes

The axes settings include:

Scale Axes. The follow settings specify options for scales axes in the chart.

Location. Specifies where a scale axis appears (top versus bottom or left versus right).
Range. Specifies whether a scale axis range is set automatically or is set with a specific value. Also saves the minimum and maximum for a scale axis.
Origin. Specifies if the origin line is displayed and the location of the origin line.
Type (linear, log, or power). Saves any transformations of a scale axis.
Scale to 100%. Specifies whether stacked graphic elements are scaled by the statistic value or are scaled to 100%.
Ticks. The settings specify whether to display and the location (inside, outside, or through) for major and minor ticks and also save the major tick interval for the number of minor ticks per major interval.
Grids. The settings specify whether major and minor grid lines are displayed on a scale axis.
Labels. The settings specify whether to display the axis title and the major tick labels. They can also save the format of the major tick labels (date format, number format, and all attributes, including orientation). These settings do not save the content of any labels. To save the content of the axis titles, check the settings under Text Content.
Margins. Saves the margin settings for a scale axis.

Derived axes. The following settings specify options for derived axes in the chart.

Display and Ratio/Match. Specifies whether to display the derived axis and saves the settings that define the relationship of the derived axis to the primary axis.
Ticks. The settings specify whether to display and the location (inside, outside, or through) for major and minor ticks and also save the major tick interval for the number of minor ticks per major interval.
Grids. The settings specify whether major and minor grid lines are displayed on a derived axis.
Labels. The settings specify whether to display the axis title and the major tick labels. They can also save the format of the major tick labels (date format, number format, and all attributes, including orientation).

Category axes. The following settings specify options for category axes in the chart.

Location. Specifies where a category axis appears (top versus bottom or left versus right).
Category order. Saves the order of categories on the axis if the label text in the template matches the label in the target chart.
Collapsed categories setting and label. Specifies whether to collapse categories and the label for the collapsed category.
Category exclusion. Specifies whether any categories are excluded. The label text of the excluded categories in the template must match the label text of the categories in the target chart.
Tick display and location. Specifies whether to display and the location (inside, outside, or through) for ticks on a category axis.
Grids. Specifies whether grid lines are displayed on a categorical axis.
Labels. The settings specify whether to display the axis title and the major tick labels. They can also save the format of the major tick labels (date format, number format, and all attributes, including orientation). These settings do not save the content of any labels. To save the content of the axis titles, check the settings under Text Content.
Margins. Saves the margin settings for a category axis.

Charts in the diagonal. Specifies whether to display charts in the diagonal of a scatterplot matrix.

Data Value Labels

The data value labels settings include:

Display. Specifies whether to display data value labels and whether to suppress overlapping labels. When the template specifies to display one or more data value labels, it displays all or all non-overlapping labels, even if the display is turned off for specific graphic elements in the target chart.

Content. Specifies the content of the data value labels (such as percentage or count).

Font style. Saves the font family, size, and other formatting for text in data value labels.

Position. Saves the position of the data value label in relation to the graphic element.

Fill and border. Saves the fill and border formatting for the data label, including the option to color border by marker color.

Number/date format. Saves the number and date format for the data value labels. When the template is applied, number and date formats are applied only to similar data value labels. That is, if the number format for data value labels showing percentages is saved in the template but the target chart contains only data value labels of counts, the template will have no effect on the data value labels in the target chart. However, if the target chart does include data value labels of percentages, the numbers in the data value labels are formatted as specified in the template.

Optional Lines

The optional lines settings specify whether optional lines are displayed. The settings also specify the attributes of the optional lines (such as method used for fitting a fit line). They include:

Display of and options for fit lines.
Display of distribution curves in histograms.
Display of and options for interpolation lines.
Display and location of reference lines.
Display of projection lines.

If you apply a template that includes a line or normal curve in the target chart, the Chart Editor adds the line or curve to the chart. The exceptions are if the chart does not support the line or curve (for example, a fit line applies only to scatterplots and a normal curve applies only to histograms) or if the reference line is located outside of the axis range.

Error Bar Settings

The error bar settings specify whether to show or hide error bars. This setting does not add error bars if the chart was not created with error bars. It only shows or hides existing error bars.

Legend display

The legend display setting specifies whether to show or hide a legend and the order of the legends when there are multiple legends. Note that the display order of the legend is controlled by the Text, data, and other frames setting in the Layout bundle.

Scatterplot Point Binning

The scatterplot point binning settings specify display of and options for point bins on scatterplots, including whether the binning is by color or size.

Histogram Binning

The histogram binning settings specify binning options for histograms, including the bin anchor and the bin size.

If you want to save the option for displaying the distribution curve on the histogram, use the fit and reference lines settings.

Panel Settings

The panel settings include:

Wrapping. Specifies whether panels are wrapped.

Mirroring. Specifies whether panels are mirrored on a per-level basis.

Panel spacing. Saves the spacing between panels on a per-level basis.