How to change series plotting order without changing legend order?

[PatrickM]

My chart has four data series. They all plot as the same kind of line and
they all plot against the same axes. Series 1 - 4 must be listed in the
legend in that order top to bottom; however on the chart itself they must be
superimposed on each other such that 4 is on the bottom and 1 plots on top -
how do I force this? Excel defaults to plotting 1 on the bottom and 4 on top.

In other words, Excel superimposes the series on the plot in the opposite
order it lists them in the legend. Is there a way to reverse this?


Thanks,
Patrick

 

[Bernard Liengme]

Right click the chart
Select Series Data fro popup menu
The Series Data dialog has two windows; in the larger one to the left you
will see the names of you data series listed
Select one of these and use the up/down arrow at the top of this window to
reorder the legend entries
best wishes

 

[Andy Pope]

Hi,

Assuming you have a stacked line chart, in order to get the line
'superimposed'.
The plot order is reflected in the legend. Changing the order will fix the
legend but the lines will be in the wrong order within the chart.

Use additional cells and formula to calculate the cumulative values for each
series. You can then use the plot order to control the legend without
affecting the stacked order in the chart.

Cheers
Andy

 

[PatrickM]

Bernard, the popup menu doesn't have a 'Select Series' choice. It does have
a 'Source data' choice but that doesn't have the functionality you describe.

I recall earlier trying what you've described, where you can select a series
and click the up and down arrows, just can't remember at the moment how I got
there. But it didn't work anyway because in addition to changing the legend
order, it also changed which series were plotted on top of which, and I need
to avoid that. I have to change the legend without changing the plot, or
vice versa.

Thanks,
Patrick

 

[PatrickM]

No it's not a stacked line chart, it's four completely separate series. Each
one is just symbols joined by a line. Sometimes the lines run together and I
need to force the symbols to be plotted on top of each other in the same
order the series appear in the legend. So whichever series is at the top of
the legend, that series' symbols should plot on top. Whichever series is at
the bottom of the legend, its symbols should plot underneath the symbols from
all three other series. Same idea for series 2 and 3. Excel defaults to the
opposite order - how do I force it to do what I need?

Thanks,
Patrick

 

[Andy Pope]

You could add a duplicate set of series. Format each series to match the
original.
So if you had 4 you would now have 8. Format series 5 to be the same a
series 1, 2 & 6, 3 & 7, 4 & 8.
You can then change the order of series 5 to 8 to be in reverse.
Finally remove series 5 to 8 from the legend.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Bernard Liengme]

Email me directly (get my addy from my website) and I will post back a
screen capture showing what I meant.
best wishes