excel "no data" labeling in bar graph

[David NGC]

Hello,
I am graphing a series of data in a bar format in excel. Some of the
entries have no data. Instead of interpolating, graphing zero, or just
leaving gaps, I'd like excel to put a "no data" or similar message in the
spot where a bar would otherwise be. (I can't have it shown as zero, as
there are legitimate zero entries as well.)

How do I do this? I am using excel 2003.

 

[Bernard Liengme]

I think you will need a column of data labels that could be placed on your
chart with one of these add-ins

Rob Bovey's Chart Labeler, http://appspro.com
John Walkenbach's Chart Tools, http://j-walk.com

best wishes

 

[David NGC]

Thank you for the help. I will attempt one of these if it is a that option,
but i'm on a corporate network which presents me with two problems:

1) I may get in trouble for installing a third party app on this computer.
2) This worksheet will be worked on by many people after I'm gone (summer
internship) and whatever is done to it should probably be done with the stock
excel for compatibility reasons.

If anyone else has suggestions for anything I can do without a third party
app, I'd appreciate it. It doesn't have to say "no data". It could be as
simple as an "X", or a line, or just shading applied where the missing data
bar would go.

thanks

 

[Andy Pope]

Hi,

You can use a dummy series to provide the No Data text.

Assume data layout as follow, <empty> is just a place holder for email post.

A1:<empty> B1: =Data C1: =NoData
A2: =a B2: = 1 C2: =<empty>
A3: =b B3: = <empty> C3: =0
A4: =c B4: = 0 C4: =<empty>
A5: =d B5: = 3 C5: =<empty>

Plot both series as clustered bar. Set Overlap value to 100.
Series 1 displays data labels of Value
Series 2 displays data labels of Series Name

Cheers
Andy