1. What is Chart Advisor?
2. Why do I need Chart Advisor?
3. What are the requirements / limitations?
4. What data is logged?
5. How do I turn off data logging?
6. How do I install Chart Advisor?
7. How often will there be updates?
8. How do I uninstall Chart Advisor?
9. How can I modify the charts from the Chart Advisor dialog?
10. What can I do in the Modify Chart panel?
11. What can I do in the Filter Data panel?
12. How does Chart Advisor pick charts?
13. Can I modify the rules?
14. What are the known issues?
15. My Chart Advisor button has disappeared - how do I fix it?
16. How can I send feedback about Chart Advisor?
17. How can I get a question answered about Chart Advisor?
18. Do you have a sample dataset I can play with?

1. What is Chart Advisor?
Chart Advisor is a prototype Excel Add-In that appears as a button on the Insert ribbon next to the standard charting tools.  It attempts to automate the process of chart generation by using an advanced rules engine to scan your data for properties that inherently make good charts.  It will generate some charts, rank them, and display the set as thumbnails in a new dialog.  From this dialog you can manipulate the charts by changing how the data is mapped and filter out data from the chart.  When done, you can insert the chart back into the spreadsheet.

2. Why do I need Chart Advisor?
It is useful if you are curious to explore an alternative way to create charts and help us understand if this improves your productivity.

3. What are the requirements / limitations?
Operating System needs to be either XP or Vista. You'll need a copy of Excel 2007. Also, because this is a prototype, we're limited to 8,000 cells for analysis.

4. What data is logged?
In order to improve the user experience and our chart recommendation engine, we log how users interact with the software (which buttons are pressed or features are used and how long we're taking to render charts). We do not log any data that can identify you, nor do we transmit the actual data you chart. The data helps us determine how the prototype could be integrated into a full product like Excel. If you have turned off data transmission, Chart Advisor will not send any data over the network connection. You can get more information about metrics here.

5. How do I turn off data logging?
In the Microsoft Excel ribbon, select the Add-Ins tab.  Locate the About button in the Chart Advisor section of the ribbon and press it to open the About Box. Near the bottom of the dialog is a checkbox that says, "I want to participate in Microsoft Office Labs usage metrics gathering." Unmark the box and press OK. No more data logging.

6. How do I install Chart Advisor?
(1) Check that your computer meets the requirements (Windows XP or Vista and Excel 2007)
(2) Download Chart Advisor from www.officelabs.com/projects/chartadvisor
(3) Run the setup

7. How often will there be updates?
The updates will be pushed through Auto-Update, but will only appear when there are significant changes to the code or rules.

8. How do I uninstall Chart Advisor?
(1) Go to Uninstall in the Control Panel
(2) Select "Chart Advisor from Microsoft Office Labs"
(3) Press Change and select Uninstall
(4) Let us know why you uninstalled if you have time (email)

9. Can I modify the charts from the Chart Advisor dialog?
Absolutely. Once the dataset is selected and Chart Advisor has generated recommendations, you can modify charts in 3 ways:
(1) Select a new thumbnail to get started with a specific chart type.
(2) In the Modify Chart panel, change the axis being graphed to match what you want.
(3) In the Filter Data panel, remove data points that you don't want.

10. What can I do in the Modify Chart panel?
Modify Chart lets you alter how data from your spreadsheet is mapped to the chart. In general, there are 3 fields on which data can reside: the horizontal category axis, the vertical values axis, and in the legend. In this panel, the columns of data found in your spreadsheet are shown on the left. Chart Advisor will pre-populate the 3 fields mentioned above for the given chart. If you want to change this, you can either mark or unmark the checkboxes, drag strings between fields, or use the right-click menus to move items.

11. What can I do in the Filter Data panel?
Filter Data lets you alter which data in the current chart is visible. After you've mapped columns of data to the chart in the Modify Chart panel, sometimes the chart will look better if not all the data is shown. You can accomplish this via filtering without modifying your original data. In this panel, the columns of data found in your spreadsheet are shown on the left. Chart Advisor will pre-populate the 3 fields mentioned above for the given chart. If you want to change this, you can either mark or unmark the checkboxes, drag strings between fields, or use the right-click menus to move items.

12. How does Chart Advisor pick charts?
Chart Advisor uses an advanced rules engine to scan your data for properties that inherently make good charts and then uses this analysis to pick different chart types that will render graphs conveying useful information. It does this in 3 steps. First, columns/rows of data are scored to determine how they might fit into the 3 chart fields (category, values, legend). Second, these mappings are tried in the various chart types supported to see if they 'look good.' Finally, formatting rules are applied to enhance the overall appearance of the chart.

13. Can I modify the rules?
If you have ideas on how to improve the rules, feel free to post to the discussion board.

14. What are the known issues?
(1) Chart Advisor only chooses one direction for the data based on initial inspection. So, if your data happens to flow in rows, Chart Advisor may choose to group by columns and give less desirable charts. The fix for this is to transpose your data using Excel's cut and paste special feature.
(2) Performance suffers as the data sets grow larger. Smaller datasets are considerably faster.
(3) The hidden sheet used for intermediate calculations isn't deleted. The data is deleted from the sheet, but the actual sheet is still present in the file. To remove it, you simply need to right click on a sheet tab and select Unhide. The menu that pops up will show you the hidden sheets. From here you can select one and unhide it.
(4) The undo history is cleared when Chart Advisor is run.

15. My Chart Advisor button has disappeared - how do I fix it?
Click on the Office button in the upper left of the window and then Excel Options (ALT+F+I). Next, click on the Add-Ins button and then change the drop-down menu at the bottom from Excel Add-ins to Disabled Items. Click Go… In the dialog that pops up, select Chart Advisor and then click Enable. After you close these dialogs, you'll need to restart Excel for the changes to take effect.

16. How can I send feedback about Chart Advisor?
The quickest way is to email us at chadfeed@microsoft.com. You can also post topics on the discussion forum. We read that pretty regularly.

17. How can I get a question answered about Chart Advisor?
Posting questions to the discussion forum is preferred since there may be others that have the same issue or have figured out a solution. You can also try our email: chadfeed@microsoft.com. If we're not on vacation, we'll get back to you.

18. Do you have a sample dataset I can play with?
Yes.  Try copying either of these tables to Excel:

My Sales	California	Oregon	Idaho	Totals
Qtr 1	300.0	185.0	276.0	761.0
Qtr 2	330.0	194.3	262.2	786.5
Qtr 3	363.0	204.0	249.1	816.1
Qtr 4	399.3	214.2	236.6	850.1
Totals	1,392.3	797.4	1,023.9	3,213.6

Cookie Sale Year	2000	2001	2002	2003
Chocolate	$19,320	$28,888	$23,154	$29,378
Sugar	$24,920	$16,076	$21,096	$26,078
Peanut	$14,120	$29,312	$15,268	$12,226
Frosted	$19,796	$28,008	$16,156	$23,620
Oatmeal	$25,258	$24,518	$11,610	$14,254
Share of Chocolate Market	19%	29%	23%	29%
Share of Sugar Market	28%	18%	24%	30%
Share of Peanut Market	20%	41%	22%	17%
Share of Frosted Market	23%	32%	18%	27%
Share of Oatmeal Market	33%	32%	15%	19%