John Mansfield wrote:
... you can create a custom chart ...

You can also set your custom chart to be the default, as follows.

After you've added your chart type to Excel's list (as in John's
instructions):

Right-click on the chart
Click on Chart Type
Select the Custom Types tab
Click on the "User-defined" option
Select your custom chart type (so that it is highlighted)
Click the "Set as default chart" button

I wish more people would do this. Whenever I get a xeroxed copy of an
Excel chart with the default gray plot area, it is unreadable (gray
shades tend to become darker with xeroxing).

Mark

p.s. A question: occasionally, Excel "forgets" that I have set a custom
chart as the default, and reverts to the standard Excel default. I am
not sure what I have done, if anything, to cause this. Does anybody
else experience this, and/or know why it happens?