How to change chart axis labels' font color and size in Excel?

➤ Change all axis labels' font color and size in a chart

➤ Change all negative axis labels' font color in a chart

➤ Change axis labels' font color by positive/negative/0 with conditional formatting in a chart

➤ Change axis labels' font color if greater or less than value with conditional formatting in a chart

➤ VBA: Change axis label font color and size with custom logic

➤ Excel formula: Generate labels in helper cells and overlay custom text

➤ Other built-in: Use formatted text boxes as custom axis labels

When you need to change the font color and size of every label on a chart axis (X or Y) at once, Excel provides a straightforward method. This is ideal when you want unified styling for all axis numbers or text, ensuring consistency and improved visibility—such as enlarging axis values for presentations or changing colors to match branding requirements.

Click to select the axis to format (for example, click the Y-axis labels in your chart), then use the Font Size box and Font Color button in the Font group on the Home tab of the Excel ribbon to choose your desired formatting settings. This changes the entire axis at once and is suitable for basic formatting needs.

All font color and size changes you select will be applied to every label in the chosen axis, making this a quick way to improve readability or emphasize axes in your charts.

Apply conditional formatting to fill columns in a chart

Normally, all data points in a single data series share the same color. However, with the Color Chart by Value tool in Kutools for Excel, you can easily apply value-based coloring to chart columns or bars, highlighting specific data points and making patterns in your data more apparent. This feature is especially helpful for visualizing different value ranges at a glance.

In some analytical scenarios, you may want to make negative axis values stand out, such as to quickly identify losses or outliers in a data series. Excel allows you to automatically apply a different color to all negative axis labels using built-in number formatting. This method is efficient and requires no manual editing for each label.

1. Right-click the axis you wish to format (for example, the Y-axis), then select Format Axis from the context menu.

2. Depending on your Excel version, adjust the axis number formatting:
(1) In Excel2013 and later, in the Format Axis pane, expand the Number group under Axis Options. From the Category dropdown, select Number, then choose a red Negative numbers style.
(2) In Excel2007 and2010, open the Format Axis dialog, select Number from the sidebar, highlight Number under Category, and choose the negative numbers formatting you prefer.

Note: You can also directly enter a custom number format code such as #,##0_ ;[Red]-#,##0 into the Format Code box and click Add. To display negative values in a different color, simply change [Red] to another color name (e.g., [Blue]).

3. Exit the formatting pane/dialog. The negative labels in the selected axis now display in your chosen font color, providing immediate visual emphasis.

This method is easy to implement and works well for highlighting negative numbers, but it is limited to color-based formatting and cannot change font size automatically based on value.

To further enhance your axis labels, you may want to differentiate positive, negative, and zero values with distinct colors, making charts easier to interpret especially when presenting datasets with diverse value types. Excel’s custom number formatting feature can help with this, though it allows only color changes based on value sign, not size or font family changes.

1. Right-click your target axis and choose Format Axis from the context menu.

2. Format numbers according to your Excel version:
(1) In Excel2013 and later, in the Format Axis pane under Number, type[Blue]#,###;[Red]#,###;[Green]0 in the Format Code box, then click Add.
(2) In Excel2007 and2010, select Number on the left, type the same format code, and click Add.

Note: In [Blue]#,###;[Red]#,###;[Green]0 the first bracketed color (Blue) sets positive value colors, the second (Red) sets negative value colors, and the third (Green) sets zero value colors. Adjust the color names as needed. Only recognized Excel color names will be accepted.

3. Finish and close the dialog. Axis label colors now visually separate positive, negative, and zero values for improved data interpretation.

This method is quick, but note that only font color can be changed via this feature. Font sizes or styles cannot be affected using number format codes.

There are situations where you want to highlight axis values that fall above or below a certain numerical threshold—helpful for emphasizing cutoffs, targets, or boundaries. Again, Excel’s number formatting supports this through use of value-based color rules.

1. Right-click the axis that needs formatting, select Format Axis.

2. Adjust number format as per your Excel version:
(1) Excel2013+: In the Format Axis pane on the Number section, input[Blue][<=400]General;[Magenta][>400] in the Format Code box and click Add.
(2) Excel2007/2010: Under Number, enter the same format code and click Add.

3. Once confirmed, closing the formatting dialog updates your selected axis. For example, the format code [Blue][<=400]General;[Magenta][>400] means that labels for values of400 or less turn blue, while those over400 appear magenta. Colors and boundaries are easily customizable.

This approach is recommended for highlighting specific value regions, but it cannot adjust font size or typeface, only color.

If you want to customize the font color and size of data labels in your chart based on their values—such as making negative values red and larger, or positive values blue and smaller—Excel’s built-in formatting cannot handle this dynamically. With VBA (Visual Basic for Applications), however, you can apply custom logic programmatically to update each data label’s style accordingly.

This solution is ideal for dashboards, presentations, or visualizing business-critical data where label appearance should reflect numeric meaning (e.g. highlighting losses or zero values).

Steps to apply custom formatting:

1. In Excel, first select the chart you want to format. Then go to the Developer tab and click Visual Basic to open the VBA editor. In the editor, click Insert > Module, and paste the following code into the module window:

Sub CustomFormat_DataLabels_ByValue()
    Dim cht As Chart
    Dim srs As Series
    Dim i As Long

    ' Get the active chart (the one you clicked before running the macro)
    Set cht = ActiveChart
    If cht Is Nothing Then
        MsgBox "Please select a chart first, then run the macro.", vbExclamation, "No Chart Selected"
        Exit Sub
    End If

    ' Apply formatting to the first series
    Set srs = cht.SeriesCollection(1)
    With srs
        .HasDataLabels = True
        For i = 1 To .Points.Count
            Dim val As Double
            val = .Values(i)
            With .Points(i).DataLabel
                .ShowValue = True
                ' Set color and size based on value
                If val > 0 Then
                    .Font.Color = RGB(0, 102, 204) ' Blue
                    .Font.Size = 12
                ElseIf val < 0 Then
                    .Font.Color = RGB(220, 0, 0)   ' Red
                    .Font.Size = 14
                Else
                    .Font.Color = RGB(34, 139, 34) ' Green
                    .Font.Size = 13
                End If
            End With
        Next i
    End With

    MsgBox "Data labels formatted based on values.", vbInformation
End Sub

2. Return to Excel, ensure your chart is selected, then run the macro by pressing F5 or using Run from the toolbar. The macro will automatically apply different font styles to each data label in the first series of your chart based on its value.

This VBA approach lets you implement rule-based formatting for better visual communication in Excel charts, especially when highlighting value significance is key.

Although Excel formulas cannot directly change the font color or size of axis labels, they can generate custom label text dynamically. By using helper cells to construct descriptive labels—such as adding arrows, suffixes, or formatted values—and linking these cells to data labels or text boxes, you can simulate a customized axis labeling experience driven by your data.

This approach is especially useful when you need to build annotation-rich labels that automatically update based on worksheet changes, or when combining multiple values into one label string.

Example operation steps:

1. Set up a helper column beside your chart data. For example, if your Y-axis values are in B2:B10, enter the following formula in cell C2:

=IF(B2>0,"▲ "&B2,IF(B2<0,"▼ "&B2,"0"))

This formula adds a ▲ symbol for positive numbers, ▼ for negative values, and displays 0 as-is. You can modify the symbols or logic to fit your specific formatting needs.

2. Drag the formula down through column C to generate corresponding labels for each data point.

3. Create your chart as usual. To apply the custom labels:

• Option 1: Use data labels linked to helper cells
  Right-click the chart’s data series → Add Data Labels. Then right-click one data label → Format Data Labels → under Label Options, deselect other options and leave “Value From Cells” checked. In the formula bar, type = and click the corresponding helper cell (e.g., =C2), then press Enter.
• Option 2: Use overlaying text boxes
  Insert text boxes (Insert → Text Box), then click inside one and type = in the formula bar. Click the helper cell to link the box to it (e.g., =C2). Format and place these text boxes manually over the chart’s axis region.

This formula-based workaround provides a flexible, non-VBA method for creating smart axis-like labels. However, for automation or conditional font formatting (such as color scales or value-based styles), refer to the VBA-based solution.

If Excel’s native axis label formatting is too restrictive and you need full control over label appearance—such as applying mixed fonts, background colors, multiple lines, or icons—the most flexible method is to manually insert and position text boxes as custom axis labels.

This method is especially suitable for presentation charts, infographics, or dashboards that require a highly customized appearance or label layout that standard axis formatting cannot provide.

Operation steps:

1. Go to the Insert tab and choose Text Box. You can insert a standard rectangle or other shapes as needed.
2. Draw the text box near the axis tick mark or label location.
3. Type or paste the desired text. To dynamically link the text box to a worksheet cell, click the text box, type = in the formula bar, then select the cell.
4. Use the Home tab formatting tools to customize the font, size, color, background, border, and alignment.
5. Repeat for each label you want to replace or customize on the chart.