I am not an employee of Microsoft, nor am I paid to answer questions. I have
received the MVP award in recognition for having answered these questions in
the past.

In any case, I have responded to your email.

When you assign a range to a chart, Excel tries to figure out what part of
the range to use for series names, categories or X values, and Y values.
Excel 2003 may have done this a bit more intelligently than Excel 2007 does
now. Excel 2003 could recognize if the first row or column contained
date-formatted values, and realize these were the X values. Excel 2007 seems
not to have done this with your charts, perhaps because the data range is
not contiguous.

The error is that the dates are considered by Excel to be another set of Y
values, not the X values as was intended.

To fix existing charts in 2007, I found a simple approach. Select the chart,
and on the Chart Tools Design tab, click on the Switch Row/Column button
twice. This is enough to force Excel to re-evaluate the source data range,
and this time Excel gets it right. The format of the changed X axis is not
the same as in the "good" charts. You can copy one of those charts, select
one that needs the axis fixed, and use Paste Special Formats.

Future conversions may be improved by clearing the top left cell ("DATE"),
because a blank cell helps Excel figure out that the first row and column
are for different purposes.


- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Peltier Technical Services, Inc.
http://PeltierTech.com/WordPress/
Advanced Excel Conference - Training in Charting and Programming
http://peltiertech.com/Training/2009...00906ACNJ.html
_______


"Johannes" wrote in message
...
Thanks Jon, I will send the file with some explanation to your email.

I had assumed you are paid by Microsoft for dealing with their customer's
complaints in this forum. If that is not the case I apologise for assuming
so, and would like to thank you even more for volunteering your time.

Johannes

"Jon Peltier" wrote:

Well, I can't promise to give it a lot of attention. I'm falling behind
in
my regular work and shouldn't be spending so much time in the forums.
Take
my email from my profile here, and remove the capital letters.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Peltier Technical Services, Inc.
http://PeltierTech.com/WordPress/
Advanced Excel Conference - Training in Charting and Programming
http://peltiertech.com/Training/2009...00906ACNJ.html
_______


"Johannes" wrote in message
...
The file is not corrupt. The problem started simultanously in soem 30
files
when my client installed Excel 2007. I established a new file, trying
to
overcome the problem, but it didn't work, the problem remianed.

Dealing with the macro might be no problem for you but it is for me - I
am
not a computer person, I am simply trying to use a Microsoft product,
and
trying to overcome a problem this new product is causing.

By the same tooken, I would like to ask, why is it not possible that I
forward one of the files where the problem occurs and than you or yoru
colleagues can see exactely what the problem is? During our previous
communication I have tried to explain to you what the problem is.

My client has one option to overcome the problem, and that is to
continue
using the old Excel program, but that can be hardly the purpose of
purchasing
new Microsoft products.

From my point of view, the easiest and most effective way of dealing
with
this is if I can send you a file with last years data and you can see
that
it
everything worked o.k. from January to July (approx) and than from
August
onwards the problem occured, which marked the time when the new Excel
program
was installed. Please advise to which email address I can send the
file.

Johannes



"Jon Peltier" wrote:

If the file is corrupt, you should try rebuilding it from scratch in a
new
workbook.

If you want to post some typical data as text in a new thread, a
description
of the chart, and a description of the problem, someone may be able to
help.
Make sure to describe the charts themselves and the problem clearly.

I'm not sure why the 15-line macro seems so complicated. You could try
it
on
a copy of your file, using instructions he
http://peltiertech.com/WordPress/how...e-elses-macro/

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Peltier Technical Services, Inc.
http://PeltierTech.com/WordPress/
Advanced Excel Conference - Training in Charting and Programming
http://peltiertech.com/Training/2009...00906ACNJ.html
_______


"Johannes" wrote in message
...
Jon

I have the 'corrupt' file. Where can I sent it?

Johannes


"Johannes" wrote:

Hi Jon

sorry for the long break in communication, but I haven't been back
to
my
clients for more than a month. However, I will go there on
Wednesday,
and
then I will forward one of the files, so you or your colleagues can
have
a
look and hopefully figure out what the problem is and how to
rectify
it.


Is it possible to attach a file to a posting on this website, and
if
yes,
how do I do it? If not, what email address should I sent the file?

Thanks

Johannes


"Jon Peltier" wrote:

Johannes -

If you could provide a (sanitized) sample of data and a more
detailed
description of the chart, someone here may be able to offer a
suggestion
that would keep the chart in its intended configuration.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Peltier Technical Services, Inc.
http://PeltierTech.com/WordPress/
_______


"Johannes" wrote in message
...
I have modified the template by re-drawing the graph, but it
didn't
alleviate
the problem. The graph changes not when data are entered, but
when
the
template is copied to create a new worksheet. How it works is
that
we
have
a
template and then, say 20 or 30 worksheets, which represent
individual
product batches. If a new product batch is produced today,
laboratory
staff
copy the template to create a new worksheet and then enter the
recorded
data
for that product batch. This means that, by the time the graph
is
copied,
it
does not contain any data. We have tried to enter data, e.g.
the
date
1.
January, into the template, and that did help in some cases,
but
not
all.

The macro looks complicated to me, I have never done a macro,
but
I'll
have
a look at it. However, I probably won't be back at my clients
place
for 3
to
4 weeks, before I can have a look at it again.

Johannes



"Jon Peltier" wrote:

Could you fix the template in the master sheet? Or does simply
changing
the
data cause the chart to change?

An alternative might be to run a macro. This will change
charts
in
the
active workbook:

Sub FixCharts()
Dim sh As Object
Dim cht As Chart
Dim chobj As ChartObject

For Each cht In ActiveWorkbook.Charts
cht.PlotBy = xlColumns ''' or xlRows ''' ***
Next
For Each sh In ActiveWorkbook.Sheets
For Each chobj In sh.ChartObjects
chobj.Chart.PlotBy = xlColumns ''' or xlRows '''
***
Next
Next

End Sub

In the two places highlighted by *** you need to make sure the
appropriate
alignment is being specified. See this post if you aren't sure
how
to use
this code:
http://peltiertech.com/WordPress/how...e-elses-macro/

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Peltier Technical Services, Inc.
http://PeltierTech.com/WordPress/
_______


"Johannes" wrote in
message
...
O.k. today I am at my cleints place and I have looked a bit
more
into
it.
I
have checked last years databases and graphs appear to be
o.k.
for
the
first
half of the year (until July / August) while those covering
the
rest of
the
year are skewed. They upgraded to Excel 2007 in June/July.
This
means,
that
old, existing graphs were not changed, but what has changed
is
that
when
the
MASTER Sheet (= a template for entering data, which then
automatically
creates a time vs value graph) is copied for recording data
from a
new
product batch, the x - and y - axis switch. Therefore, all
graphs
after
July
/ August are skewed. This problem persists to this day,
meaning
that
every
new worksheet that is created contains skewed graphs, making
the
problem
(=workload) bigger.

I can correct the problem manually in the following way:
1. right click on the graph
2. Click 'Select data'
3. Click 'Switch Row / Column'
4. Click 'Switch Row / Column' again
5. Correct the format of the x-axis to its original format

However, there are many graphs, and if I am unable to solve
the
problem,
we
will have to ommit using graphs.

If you are able to provide me with an email address, I can
send
you one
of
the files, and you can have a look whether the same thing
happens
on
your
computer, and if so, work out what the problem is.

Johannes

"Jon Peltier" wrote:

What happened that made the chart switch? Did the client
mess
around
with
it?

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Peltier Technical Services, Inc.
http://PeltierTech.com/WordPress/
_______


"Johannes" wrote in
message
...
Jon, sorry for my long silence.

What you are describing is exactely what happens, i.e.
that
the
values
on
the x-axis (horizontal) become the values on the y-axis
(vertical).
This
obviously messes up the the graph.

Unfortunately I can't quite remember what manual changes
I