Reorder Legend Without Changing Chart in Excel (3 Quick Steps)

A legend is a chart element that explains colors, symbols, or patterns used to represent different data series.

It always shows what the series represents. So, to change the order of a legend, you need to change the order of the data series.

You can the series order either by changing the data source or changing their entry for the chart. Our primary focus is the latter one.

In this tutorial, we will cover how to reorder legend without changing the chart in Excel.

Steps to Reorder Legend Without Changing Chart in Excel

Here is the dataset and the chart we are using for demonstration.

This contains data on different traffic types for a website. We have plotted them in a column chart for comparison.

As you can see, the organic traffic has the highest number. It is plotted first in each subsection because it was first in the data source.

However, we want to display this after the paid and referral traffic for each month.

Here is how to do this:

Click on the chart to select it.

Selecting a chart creates two new tabs: Chart Design and Format on the ribbon.

We need the Chart Design tab for this edit.

Now select Chart Design >> Data (group) >> Select Data.

In the Select Data Source dialog box, you can find the series in the Legend Entries section at the bottom-left of the box.

Above it, there are options to add, edit, remove, and move buttons for these legends.

To change the order, select a legend and use the move up/down button to change the sequence.

Here, we have selected Organic Traffic (the first legend entry) and clicked on the move down button to put it behind the others.

The sequence of the entry looks like this.

Click on OK after you finish.

The chart will display the legend accordingly.

FAQ

How to flip legend order?

You can’t directly flip a legend order in reverse. You need to reverse the series order manually one by one with the method described in the article.

Why is the legend not updating after I change the data series order?

Make sure you have properly selected the chart when making changes. Double-check that you are using the correct data series index and that there are no overlapping or hidden chart elements.

How to change the color or formatting of the legend items?

The legend’s color always reflects the series it is representing. So, to change a legend’s color, you need to change the series’ color.

Wrapping Up

In this tutorial, we have covered how to reorder legend without changing the chart in Excel. The legend in a chart always reflects the series in the chart. Changing the sequence of the series also changes the legend order in the chart.

Feel free to download the practice file and let us know about your feedback.