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How to rotate axis labels in chart in Excel?

Sometimes, the axis labels in chart are so long that the labels are huddled together as shown as below screenshot. If you do not want to resize the chart size to meet the labels, you can rotate the axis labels to show the labels clearly in Excel.

doc-rotae-axis-label-1

Rotate axis labels in chart

arrow blue right bubble Rotate axis labels in chart

Please follow these steps:

Rotate axis labels in Excel 2007/2010

1. Right click at the axis you want to rotate its labels, select Format Axis from the context menu. See screenshot:

doc-rotae-axis-label-2

2. In the Format Axis dialog, click Alignment tab and go to the Text Layout section to select the direction you need from the list box of Text direction. See screenshot:

doc-rotae-axis-label-3

3. Close the dialog, then you can see the axis labels are rotated.

doc-rotae-axis-label-4

Rotate axis labels in chart of Excel 2013

If you are using Microsoft Excel 2013, you can rotate the axis labels with following steps:

1. Go to the chart and right click its axis labels you will rotate, and select the Format Axis from the context menu.

2. In the Format Axis pane in the right, click the Size & Properties button, click the Text direction box, and specify one direction from the drop down list. See screen shot below:

doc-rotae-axis-label-5

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Comments (12)
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Droid
Droid
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makasih broooo
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Stef
Stef
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Hi, if I have 2 lines text (AXIS CATEGORY) and I want to change the orientation only for the second text (from the bottom), it's possible? I followed all the steps, but only the first field changed.
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Luke
Luke     Stef
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I dont know if you found a solution, but I have the same problem now, and would very much apreciate if someone could tell me how to do it.
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Michael
Michael
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How about a "Rotate axis labels in chart of Excel 2016"? If they haven't removed that capability, they've sure hidden it well.
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Aisha
Aisha     Michael
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Right click x-axis --> format axis --> text options --> click the third image tab --> text box --> keep as horizontal and under custom angle, enter -45. Took too long to figure that out, but it worked!
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Stephanie
Stephanie     Aisha
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Thank you! This worked for me!
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Owen
Owen     Aisha
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Thank you!!! I've been trying to rotate some titles that way for a LONG time in Office 365. Why the h wouldn't they at least keep good functionality from earlier versions? Drives me batty the way the programs seem to keep getting less usable.
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Sam
Sam     Aisha
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Thank you, it wouldn't allow me to enter 135 degrees so I was wondering about it!
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august_25@hotmail.com
    Michael
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I found it. select the axis you want. I should form a box around the labels, and then right click. Select format axis. A menu on the right hand side will appear.

Now is the question of how to turn the labels to an angle other than 0-90-180-270.
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Caco
Caco    
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Cant find it. Hate Microsoft and its constant tinkering with something that used to work well. Dislike the ribbon bar with a passion. Takes more mouse clicks to do the same thing vs the drop down menus of 2003
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Frank
Frank    
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Custom Angle, right beneath Text Direction :)
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elliot
elliot    
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I didn't find it. I'm almost about to give up. Word 2016 sucks.
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