Year series shows wrong in chart
 

Hi all : using Excel 2003, I have what should not even be a problem
that I cannot solve. I have a series of years in a column, 1970-2006
to be exact, and these are the labels for my x axis. When I insert
chart this appears as 1,2,3,...instead of 1970, 1971, etc. It doesn't
matter how I format that column, text, general, custom, nothing works.
Why is it not just giving me the data in the format that is actually
there and how can I get it?

thanks for any help

Bevin B.

Year series shows wrong in chart
 

Try first entering the dates as dates. To check to make sure they're entered
as dates, after entering the data click within a cell that has a date and
then go to

Format - Cells - Number.

The category should appear as "date".

Then, go to

Chart - Chart Options - Primary Axis

The Category X Axis should be checked. Click the "Category" option button.

--
John Mansfield
http://cellmatrix.net





" wrote:

Hi all : using Excel 2003, I have what should not even be a problem
that I cannot solve. I have a series of years in a column, 1970-2006
to be exact, and these are the labels for my x axis. When I insert
chart this appears as 1,2,3,...instead of 1970, 1971, etc. It doesn't
matter how I format that column, text, general, custom, nothing works.
Why is it not just giving me the data in the format that is actually
there and how can I get it?

thanks for any help

Bevin B.

Year series shows wrong in chart
 

Is this an XY chart? If the x values (even one of them) is text that looks
like a number, it will cause Excel to ignore the values and use 1, 2, 3.

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


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Hi all : using Excel 2003, I have what should not even be a problem
that I cannot solve. I have a series of years in a column, 1970-2006
to be exact, and these are the labels for my x axis. When I insert
chart this appears as 1,2,3,...instead of 1970, 1971, etc. It doesn't
matter how I format that column, text, general, custom, nothing works.
Why is it not just giving me the data in the format that is actually
there and how can I get it?

thanks for any help

Bevin B.