The outermost border of the chart is the chart area. The plot area is
twofold. The rectangle defined by the axes is the inner part of the plot
area, which cannot directly be defined. The outer part which includes axis
decorations is called simply the plot area. If you click in the middle of
the chart, in the inner plot area, you see handles on the inner plot area.
Dragging these handles changes the size of the outer plot area. You can see
dotted line outlines of the inner and outer plot area while you drag the
handle. Drag these outward as far as possible, leaving room only for axis
titles and the chart title.

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


"Risky Dave" wrote in message
...
Hi,

You'll have to excuse my non-technical language, but hopefully this will
make sense...

When a chart is plotted, is is drawn within a predefined border (don't
know
what this "border" is called, I'm afraid).

The total plotted area can be resized simply be selecting and dragging the
points around the edge. This also changes the size of the chart plotted
within the border, but only in proportion to that border.

What I would like to do is increase the size of the chart whilst keeping
the
size of the border constant. Is this possible?

The reason for this is that I am exporting these charts to Word and the
"unused" area around the chart is making formatting the document difficult
as
I end up with large expanses of white which I would rather was filled with
nice colourful charts :-)

This is in XL 2003, if that makes a difference.

TIA

Dave