The legend identifies the visual elements used to distinguish different groups of data on the graph. The legend helps you evaluate the effects of grouping. For example, the legend in the preceding graph shows the attributes of the symbols and connect lines used to represent the Control and Education groups.

File > Options > Graphics > Annotation > Legend Attributes Specify the default fill pattern, borders, and fill lines of legends on graphs. The changes you make to the defaults remain until you change them again, even after you exit Minitab.

When you are editing a graph, the regions can be resized, relocated, and formatted with color, fill patterns, edge line types, and more. In addition, you can change the fonts for the legend and table regions. To edit a graph, double-click on the graph to open the Edit Graph dialog box. Then you can do one of the following:

To exclude empty cells on the scale or the legend of an existing graph, use the following steps: Double-click the graph. Double-click the scale to open the Edit Scale dialog box.

In Categorical variable for legend grouping, enter Machine. Click OK. Interpret the results. The non-zero slope of all lines suggests differences in the mean fiber strength between operators. Operator 1 generally produced the lowest mean strength regardless of the machine used, while operator 3 produced the highest mean strength. The effect of ...

Enter a variable that defines the groups. Group labels are shown in the graph legend.

Enter a variable that defines the groups. Group labels are shown in the graph legend.

Enter a column that contains labels for each series. Minitab uses this column to label a series on the plot when you hover over it with your cursor. If you don't enter a Group variable Minitab uses the label column to create a legend for the parallel plot.

The symbols for males (M) are now red squares to differentiate them from the symbols for women (F). The attributes for each level of the Gender variable are also described in the legend.

For some graphs, Minitab displays symbols at individual data values, so that you can visually assess their patterns. For other graphs, Minitab displays symbols at summary statistics, such as the mean, median, or count.