To easily update a chart or axis title, label, or text box that you have added to a chart, you can link it to a worksheet cell. Changes that you make to the data in that worksheet cell will automatically appear in the chart.

Note: Linking options are not currently available with the following chart types:
• Maps
• Treemap
• Sunburst
• Histogram
• Pareto
• Box & Whisker
• Waterfall
• Funnel

On a chart, click the title, label, or text box that you want to link to a worksheet cell, or do the following to select it from a list of chart elements.

This displays the Chart Tools tabs.

Note: The names of the tabs within Chart Tools differs depending on the version of Excel you are using.

On the Format tab, in the Current Selection group, click the arrow next to the Chart Elements box, and then click the chart element that you want to use.

In the formula bar, type an equal sign ( =).

In the worksheet, select the cell that contains the data that you want to display in the title, label, or text box on the chart.

Tip: You can also type the reference to the worksheet cell. Include the sheet name, followed by an exclamation point, for example, Sheet1!F2

Need more help?

You can always ask an expert in the Excel Tech Community or get support in the Answers community.

Alan Murray has worked as an Excel trainer and consultant for twenty years. On most days, he can be found teaching Excel in a classroom or seminar. Alan gets a buzz from helping people improve their productivity and working lives with Excel. Read more.

Make your chart labels in Microsoft Excel dynamic by linking them to cell values. When the data changes, the chart labels automatically update. In this article, we explore how to make both your chart title and the chart data labels dynamic.

We have the sample data below with product sales and the difference in last month’s sales.

We want to chart the sales values and use the change values for data labels.

Use Cell Values for Chart Data Labels

Select range A1:B6 and click Insert > Insert Column or Bar Chart > Clustered Column.

The column chart will appear. We want to add data labels to show the change in value for each product compared to last month.

Select the chart, choose the “Chart Elements” option, click the “Data Labels” arrow, and then “More Options.”

Uncheck the “Value” box and check the “Value From Cells” box.

Select cells C2:C6 to use for the data label range and then click the “OK” button.

The values from these cells are now used for the chart data labels. If these cell values change, then the chart labels will automatically update.