How to Rotate Text in an Excel Chart (2 Methods)

If you are searching for some special tricks to rotate text, you are in the perfect place. In Microsoft Excel, there are numerous ways to rotate text in an Excel chart. In this article, we’ll discuss two methods to rotate text in an Excel chart. Let’s follow the complete guide to learn all of this.

How to Rotate Text in an Excel Chart: 2 Methods

Here, we have an Excel chart of sales quantity containing months on the X-axis and the value of sales quantity on the Y-axis. Now we want to rotate the text.

1. Changing the Orientation of Text in an Excel Chart

To rotate the text of the X-axis in the following, you have to follow the following steps.

Steps:

• Firstly, select the text on the X-axis.

• Select Home, then click on Then select an option. Here, we select the Angle Counterclockwise option. As a result, the X-axis text will rotate counterclockwise.

Result:

Finally, you will get the output like the following.

Read More: How to Add Subscript in Excel Graph

2. Using Format Axis to Rotate Text in an Excel Chart

Here, we demonstrate another method to rotate text in an Excel chart. In this method, we have two ways to rotate text by using Format Axis. Now I am going to describe the whole process in the following section.

2.1 Selecting Text Options to Rotate Text in an Excel Chart

Steps:

• Firstly, select the text on the X-axis. Then right-click and select Format Axis.

• When the Format Axis dialogue box appears, you have to select Text options.
• Next, select the Text Box.
• Then select Text direction and select any of the options.
• Here, I am going to select Rotate all text 90⁰. As a result, you will see that the text of the X-axis will rotate 90⁰ in the clockwise direction.

Finally, you will get the desired output like the following.

Rotate by selecting Custom Angle

You can also do this by selecting Custom Angle. For this purpose, you have to follow the following steps.

• Firstly, select the X-axis text. Then right-click and select Format Axis.

• Then select Format Axis > Text Options > Text Box and finally select Custom angle and enter your desired angle.
• Here we enter 30⁰. As a consequence, you will see that the text of the X-axis will rotate 30⁰ in the clockwise direction.

Result:

Finally, you will get the following desired output.

2.2 Selecting Axis Options Rotate Text in an Excel Chart

To rotate text by selecting Axis options, you have to follow the following steps.

Steps:

• Firstly, select the text on the X-axis. Then right-click and select Format Axis.

• Once the Format Axis dialogue box appears, you have to select Axis options.
• Next, select the Alignment.
• Then select Text direction and select any of the options.
• Now, I am going to select Rotate all text 90⁰. As a result, you will see that the output of the X-axis will rotate 90⁰ in the clockwise direction.

Finally, you will get the following output.

Rotate by Selecting a Custom Angle

You can also rotate your text by selecting Custom Angle. For this purpose, you have to follow the following steps.

• Firstly, select the X-axis text. Then right-click and select Format Axis.

• After that, select Format Axis > Axis Options > Text Box and finally select Custom angle and enter your desired angle.
• Here we enter 45⁰. As a consequence, you will see that the output of the X-axis will rotate  45⁰ in the clockwise direction.

Result:

Finally, you will get the following desired output.

Read More: How to Change Text Direction in Excel Chart 

Download Practice Workbook

Download this practice workbook to exercise while you are reading this article.

Conclusion

That’s the end of today’s session. I strongly believe from now you may rotate text in an Excel chart. If you have any queries or recommendations, please share them in the comments section below.

Keep learning new methods and keep growing!

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