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X axis scale on an XY scatter plot
Hi all,
I have created an XY scatter plot with date values on the x axis, the problem is that my data starts in 1971 yet the x axis goes back to 1900. I cannot access the check box to make the x axis time scale as it is greyed out in the chart options form. I have made a bit of a mess of describing my problem but if anyone has come accross this before or knows how to get an XY scatterplot to automatically start its x axis values with the minimum x value given to it, I would be grateful. I can fix this using vba but I would rather not. Regards, Tim |
#2
Posted to microsoft.public.excel.charting
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X axis scale on an XY scatter plot
The problem is likely that Excel recognizes your column of dates as
non-numerical labels. When an XY chart has non-numerical X values, it reverts to using 1, 2, 3, etc. for the plotted X values. Excel's date system starts on 1/1/1900, which is why your scale starts at 1900 with a date format applied to the axis. Look for non-numerical dates or blank cells within the X value range. If your data was imported from a database, it's not unlikely that's where the error crept in. If the data looks like a date but isn't (remove horizontal formatting: are the cells left-aligned? numbers are right aligned), you might be able to fake out Excel: copy a blank cell, select the data, use Paste Special from the Edit menu, and choose the Values and Operation - Add options. This tries to add zero (the value of the blank cell) to the "dates", and makes Excel try to convert them to numbers to perform the operation. - Jon ------- Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP Peltier Technical Services - Tutorials and Custom Solutions - http://PeltierTech.com/ 2006 Excel User Conference, 19-21 April, Atlantic City, NJ http://peltiertech.com/Excel/ExcelUserConf06.html _______ "Tim" wrote in message oups.com... Hi all, I have created an XY scatter plot with date values on the x axis, the problem is that my data starts in 1971 yet the x axis goes back to 1900. I cannot access the check box to make the x axis time scale as it is greyed out in the chart options form. I have made a bit of a mess of describing my problem but if anyone has come accross this before or knows how to get an XY scatterplot to automatically start its x axis values with the minimum x value given to it, I would be grateful. I can fix this using vba but I would rather not. Regards, Tim |
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