What's happening is the X axis is a time scale, with the base unit as
days. The maximum width for a column is one day, and because of gap
width, it's generally less. The columns are so narrow that the border
coveres up the fill.

You could change the axis type from automatic or time-scale to category
(Chart menu Chart Options Axes tab), but this removes a nice
functionality of the chart, and you've already rejected this approach.

You can also change the column formatting so that the border matches the
fill, or remove the border altogether.

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


Father Garrin wrote:
I have Excel 2002. I am trying to create a clustered column chart with a
time-scale x-axis. It seems to create the chart, but it limits it to black
and white, with skinny little columns that you can hardly distinguish. As
soon as I eliminate the dates along the x axis, it turns into technicolor.
But that isn't what I need. Help!