How to edit legend labels in google spreadsheet plots?

Question

I'm trying to plot some data in Google spreadsheet:

And as you may see all of the series are in a same column and I can't use the any of the rows as headers. My plot looks like this:

I would appreciate if you could help me know how I can edit/add legend labels.

Answer 1

Unfortunately I don't think the graphs were intended for your data format.

The only way I've been able to work out how to add a header is by reformatting my data so I have the header at the top of my ranges.

So I suggest you split your data into separate columns so you have;

D2:D4, E2:E4, F2:F4 etc with D1, E1, and F1 as your header and then selecting "Use row 1 as your headers." From the data menu.

Alternatively, you could add labels to the series themselves. Although not ideal, it could be quicker than reformatting your data. On the data menu, click on the three dots of a data series to bring up a menu that allows you to add a label. Unfortunately this needs to be a cell so you'll have to have that header on your sheet some where.

Answer 2

I had the same question this year (2021), and it looks like there's support for it now. In short, you just have to double-click on the empty legend item for the series, and it'll give you a place to put text, directly in the chart.

Here's what my chart looked like (with no series titles):

If you double-click on one, you'll get a small text input area.

Type in your series name and then press enter or click outside of the input area.

Repeat this for each series, and you should be good to go.