How can I create a line chart with 800,000 data points

[bigchartguy]

I have A LOT data in the following format:
column a, date and time, column b a number value.

I have 850,000 pieces of data for a 12 month time span. This data is in
multiple column combinations, something in the neighborhood of 20 columns by
40,000 or so rows each.

I want to display this data in a line chart. Excel seems to " choke" on the
data when I go to create the chart and select the data range if it is more
than 32,000 lines or data points. How can I chart this data? Thank you.

 

[Gord Dibben]

If you check help on "specifications" and "Charting specifications and
limits" you will find the answer.

Do not attempt to chart the full range.

Why not use a helper column to pull out every so many points and chart that
range?

Every 40th point would give you about 22000 points.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

 

[Jon Peltier]

As Gord says, check the specs. A series can have at most 32000 points, and a
chart can have at most 256000 points.

What is the utility of 850000 points in a chart. I just made a chart on its
own sheet, formatted to fit the window. It is 514 points (685 pixels) tall
and 996 points (1328 pixels) wide, for an area of 511944 square points or
910122 pixels. You have almost as many data points as there are pixels, so
maybe you should think of more effective ways to describe and display your
data.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Peltier Technical Services, Inc.
http://PeltierTech.com/WordPress/>
Advanced Excel Conference - Training in Charting and Programming
http://peltiertech.com/Training/2009-06-ACNJ/AdvExcelConf200906ACNJ.html
_______

 

[Lamb chop]

I used to produce graphs from over a few millions of metrology data. Excel
certain is a very choice. Try to search google with a freeware called
GRADS. It is the most powerful data plotter I have ever seen. However, it
is not very userfriendly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GrADS

cheers

Man