Many charts make it hard to see the difference between a salesperson who sold 527 blenders and one who sold 534. You can get the exact number by resting your pointer over a chart item. The pop-up label’s Value section tells you the bar’s exact quantity.

To make the value appear at all times, right-click a bar, for example, and choose Format Data Series. On the Data Labels tab, click checkboxes to make the bar’s Series, Category, or Value appear on the chart. For example, the Series on a sales chart would often be the product (appearing with a label such as Blenders), and the Category may be the salesperson’s name.

Options on the Data Labels tab can vary by the type of chart you’re working with. If you’re using a pie chart, for example, the tab includes a Percentage checkbox. Check it to label each pie section with its share of the whole.