Excel: August-00, August-01, etc. show up as January-00, January-.

[Guest]

The dates in my Excel spreadsheet, August-00, August-01...August-04 show up
as January-00, January-01...January-04 on the X axis of a corresponding bar
chart. My data was collected in the month of August. Under cell format,
numbers, the correct date format is selected and the sample reflects
August-00, but it still shows January on the axis. How do I change that?

 

[Jon Peltier]

The correct date format can be showing, but if the cells have text, not numeric
data, the chart doesn't know they're supposed to be dates. Change the format to
mm-dd-yy; do the cells still show August-01 etc? Without clear numeric data, Excel
defaults to 1, 2, 3 for the data points. An XY chart would have an X minimum of 0. 0
in your number format is January 0 1900; 1 is January 1 1900.

To fix the data, select a blank cell, and copy it. Select the range of text, and
from the Edit menu select Paste Special. Choose these options: Values, Operations - Add.

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