Adding prefixes and suffixes like the percentage sign, degrees, currency and other units to Illustrator graph tool Axis labels is relatively easy: you go to Object > Graph > Type then Value Axis then fill in the Prefix and Suffix boxes under 'Add labels'.
There doesn't seem to be any way, however, to add such signs and symbols to the labels that show column totals on each column in a bar or column chart.
Things I've tried that didn't work:
- Adding prefixes and suffixes to the value axis labels - works on the axis, but isn't repeated in the column total labels.
- Adding characters to the text that defines the labels (the %02 etc that is grouped in the design that is then applied to the columns). Adding anything past the 3rd character seems to simply break the link with the text and the data (e.g. adding a percent symbol like %03% just prints %02% in each column, as does adding it in quotes, after paragraph breaks, etc)
- Adding the prefix or suffix in a seperate point text item doesn't work because you can't predict the length of the column total and because it won't apply any kerning with the adjacent character
I can add the symbols in manually, but it's time consuming, and has to be re-done every time the chart is refreshed.
This seems like a basic feature - and a logical equivalent of a feature that exists for axis labels. Surely there must be a way?