You have two options.

Use an XY chart, and format the series to use markers and lines.

Use a line chart but understand how a line chart's category axis works. The
categories are not considered as numerical entries but as labels. The first
series defines these labels for the entire chart, and other series use the
same labels in the same order. So you would set up your data with blanks to
offset the start of the second series:

A B
1996 10
1997 12
1998 13
1999 15
2000 15 12
2001 16 14
2002 18 17
2003 17 17

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
http://PeltierTech.com
_______



"tirrill" wrote in message
...
I want to show 2 time series in 1 chart with different start dates. Series
1
begins 1996 and run through 2006. Series 2 starts 2000 and also stops on
the
same end-date 2006. Both use the same $ scale on the y-axis. Excel puts
them both as having start-year of 1996 with the 2nd series stopping in 6
years (2002). How do I "offset" the 2nd series by 4 years?