Charts and Images: Creating Charts

1. Overview

You can create all popular chart types, both 2D and 3D. This includes column/bar charts, area charts, line charts, pie charts, scatter charts, contour charts, and color maps.

A single data series can contain up to 32 million data points. Each chart may include up to 16 axes, each with independent scaling and parameters, and you may add custom gridlines.

Contour charts and color maps support both automatic parameters and user‑defined isolines and isobands. All 2D charts may be mixed on a single XY plane except color maps, which normally fill the entire XY plane.

2. Specifying Chart Data Series

  1. Select a continuous range of cells containing data series in rows or columns and use Insert Chart > Series In Rows/Columns. GS-Calc automatically creates the corresponding data series.

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  2. Use Insert Chart to create an empty chart and add series manually. Click New Series in the Chart dialog box.

    Example for a 2D/3D chart:

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    The “Series 1” tab should look like:

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    Example for a scatter (XY) chart:

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    The “Series 1” tab should look like:

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    If the X‑Data/Domain field is left empty, GS-Calc creates a domain series of integers from 1 to the number of Y‑Data points.

    Contour charts and color maps additionally use a third Z‑Data series assigning values to each XY point. GS-Calc draws isolines around XY points whose Z‑values exceed given isoline thresholds.

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    Color maps are similar to contour charts but optimized for very large datasets where isolines would be indistinguishable. Each XY point is colored according to its Z‑value using either the default gradient or user‑defined colors.

    Example: Z = sin(x) * cos(y) for x,y in (0, 2π).

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    Color maps are designed to fill the entire XY plane quickly. Depending on dataset size, point size decreases from rectangles down to single pixels.

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  3. For 2D charts, you may add labels to all or selected data points. Enable labels on the Chart > Style tab.

    The first two label types (“values” and “percentage”) are generated automatically. The y‑labels and z‑labels require specifying source ranges or formulas.

    These ranges must contain the same number of cells as the main data series, but may contain empty cells to label only selected points.

    If both y‑labels and z‑labels are specified, z‑labels take precedence. To display both, create z‑labels containing combined text.

  4. All chart parameters are specified in the Chart dialog box.

    Click Apply to apply changes.

    Double‑click a chart to edit it.

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3. Data Types Required in the Chart Dialog

Chart data type Must be specified as
Series name A single cell address or plain text string, e.g.:
(1) Worksheet1!$E$2
(2) '2D Charts\sample2'!$B$24
(3) sales in February
Chart data series,
domain, series and
domain error bars,
data categories		 A cell range, list of numbers, list of text strings, or array formula, e.g.:
(1) Worksheet1!$H$1:$H$100
(2) 23 2.3 45 12.1 44
(3) ab "c d e" "a1" "fg h" "in ""quote"""
(4) ={1, 2, 3.1, 4.2, 5.7}
(5) =row(b1:b100)*rand()
(6) =mtxSeries(30,1,1) + 4*mtxRand(30,1,1)

Note: When entering a list of text strings, use quotation marks for strings containing spaces or quotes. Inner quotes must be doubled.
Chart titles,
axis titles		 A plain text string or cell address, e.g.:
(1) sample chart title
(2) Worksheet1!E2

4. Notes