How do I change the scale (extend) the X axis in Excel 2007?

[curvature]

One of many questions under the new Office 2007. Trying to reproduce the old
behavior some way.

In Excel 2003... rioght click on X axis --> select Format Axis --> change
value in "Maximum" field --> Bingo. Chart has new scale (extended with dates
for another year)

If I can't do this in Excel 2007, I just need to know so I can find/buy
other software.

 

[Shane Devenshire]

Hi,

In 2007:

Right-click the axis and choose Format Axis, then click Fixed to the right
of Maximum on the Axis Options tab and enter a new Maximum value

 

[curvature]

Thanks for the help. With your prodding, I discovered two things that
are probably too small to be of interest, but I add them for other
apparently stupid people such as myself.

1) The root sounce of my problem was that I was changing the value in
the Maximum field and then clicking Close at the bottom of the dialog
box.

You have to hit Enter in the Maximum field for the change to take
effect. (I told you this would make me appear stupid. I think there was
an "OK" box in Excel 2003, which applied all the values you entered,
but I'm not sure).

2) It appears that if you use the default "two digit" year format that
shows up in my installation, any changes in the month you enter default
to the current year. I tried to change my Minimum value from Aug-04 to
Jun-04 and the axis would always show Jun-09.

You have to enter Jun-2004 before it would show my desired year.

In any case, I now have what I want and your prodding helped. Thanks
and I'll click Yes on the Helpful prompt.

 

[Jon Peltier]

The dialogs for charting in 2007 are pretty flaky. I haven't experienced
settings not being set, but I have had some interesting times entering
dates. You know you can't enter XY chart axis parameters in date format any
more? That was a real time saver in 2003.

- Jon

 

[Richard Green]

Does anyone know if there are any plans to reintroduce the use of dates as
min/max values, or are we stuck with converting dates to serial numbers for
ever? I use this all the time when analysing data and it is a pain!

 

[Jon Peltier]

Actually, in one of the SPs this was partially addressed. I think now if the
axis labels have a date format, Excel is more likely to allow entry of
dates, but some testing I did showed that it was not consistent. Of course,
in previous versions, it didn't matter.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Peltier Technical Services, Inc.
http://PeltierTech.com/WordPress/

Advanced Excel Conference - June 17-18 2009 - Charting and Programming
http://peltiertech.com/Training/2009-06-ACNJ/AdvExcelConf200906ACNJ.html
_______

 

[Andy Pope]

Hi,

Service Pack 2 allows for date entry.
Although times still do not appear to work.

Cheers
Andy

 

[MarkG]

I am so glad to find this information....
So Service Pack 2 allows for date entry in the "FIXED" min and max in the
charts?
I hope you are correct. It will solve my biggest problem since I use Excel
for a Gantt chart for our schedules here.
Here's Hoping!
Mark

 

[MarkG]

OK... I downloaded and installed SP2 for Office 2007 and this did NOT FIX the
problem.
When I enter a date ex 1/18/10 or 1/18/2010 in the Axis Options in a Line
Chart on the vertical axis, the value reverts to the original date code
40181.0 which is 1/3/10.
I used to be able to enter a date here and it would convert it. How Can I
get this to do it. Am I entering the information wrong. My older version
(2002) I could even enter just the month and day if I wanted the current
year. ex 1/18 would have been sufficient and the information was converted
to the date number.

Does anyone know of a for sure fix yet???
Thanks for any assistance!
Mark

 

[Andy Pope]

Hi,

Date format for Min./Max works on the category (X) axes rather than the
value (y) axis.
Stacked bars, rather than lines, are usual used to create gantt charts.

Cheers
Andy