Selecting part of a series for a chart?

[Guest]

My data comprises series of data (hours) by months for various projects (prj
1, 2 ,3 etc) My chart plots these series, and the X axis covers say, June 05
- Jun 07. In Prj# X I do have data for this entire period, but I only want
to select say Jan 06 - Jan 07 to be taken into the chart.

I have selected the correct range for Jan 06 - Jan 07 for Prj#X, however the
chart is still reflecting the entire series of data!

Obviously something's wrong somewhere, but I cannot fathom it out...any
ideas greatfully received. Thank you, all!

Allan

 

[David Biddulph]

My data comprises series of data (hours) by months for various projects
(prj
1, 2 ,3 etc) My chart plots these series, and the X axis covers say, June
05
- Jun 07. In Prj# X I do have data for this entire period, but I only
want
to select say Jan 06 - Jan 07 to be taken into the chart.

I have selected the correct range for Jan 06 - Jan 07 for Prj#X, however
the
chart is still reflecting the entire series of data!

Obviously something's wrong somewhere, but I cannot fathom it out...any
ideas greatfully received. Thank you, all!

Go to "Chart/ Source Data" and see what is set for the X axis data.

 

[Guest]

David, thanks but this doesn't seem to achieve what I need...let me try to
explain again.

I have 10 data series - prj 1,2,3...10
Each series has 36 cells - month 1,2,3,....36
My X axis is set for month 1 - 36

I now want to take up into the chart only months 24-36 for prj 8, so I
select these cells in the values range for prj 8. (If I amend the X axis when
changing the prj 8 range then the entire chart is changed to reflect only
month 24 onwards, so this is not my solution.)

What happens in my chart is that the prj 8 series does in fact start with
month 24 in the chart, but it is put into the chart in the month 1 column,
and all prj 8 data is shifted to the left! (Placing my mouse over the chart
the pop up reflects the correct "names" of the positions in the chart but of
course the info is wrong - i.e. prj 8, month 1 has the month 24 data!)

I hope my explanation above isn't too confusing, and that you've suggestions
as to how to achieve what I need. (I have in the meanwhile "tricked" Excel by
entering zeros in the months that I do not want to show in the chart, and
simply used the full range (month1-36) for project 8! Not entirely
satisfactory, but the result is what I want. There must be a way of picking
parts of ranges to enter into a chart!?)

Allan

 

[David Biddulph]

David, thanks but this doesn't seem to achieve what I need...let me try to
explain again.

I have 10 data series - prj 1,2,3...10
Each series has 36 cells - month 1,2,3,....36
My X axis is set for month 1 - 36

I now want to take up into the chart only months 24-36 for prj 8, so I
select these cells in the values range for prj 8. (If I amend the X axis
when
changing the prj 8 range then the entire chart is changed to reflect only
month 24 onwards, so this is not my solution.)

What happens in my chart is that the prj 8 series does in fact start with
month 24 in the chart, but it is put into the chart in the month 1 column,
and all prj 8 data is shifted to the left! (Placing my mouse over the
chart
the pop up reflects the correct "names" of the positions in the chart but
of
course the info is wrong - i.e. prj 8, month 1 has the month 24 data!)

I hope my explanation above isn't too confusing, and that you've
suggestions
as to how to achieve what I need. (I have in the meanwhile "tricked" Excel
by
entering zeros in the months that I do not want to show in the chart, and
simply used the full range (month1-36) for project 8! Not entirely
satisfactory, but the result is what I want. There must be a way of
picking
parts of ranges to enter into a chart!?)

You are using XY scatter for your chart type, aren't you?
Are you saying that the cells in the X axis series contain numbers 24 to 36
but that they're being plotted as 1 to 13?
Have you checked that the month numbers really are formatted as numbers, not
text?

 

[Jon Peltier]

No, I think he's using a line chart. Even if you specify different category
values for series after the first, these additional series still are plotted
according to the data for series 1. There are two options:

1. Use and XY chart
2. Use a values range the same size as for the first series, and include
blanks at the beginning to offset its starting point.

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

 

[Guest]

Thanks Guys....I am using a combination of column and line charts. From my
interpretation of X-Y charts this will not work with the data I have - and
the requirements of my client - and, yes, #2 below is what I have ended up
doing to achieve my desired result. This is not ideal as every time I need
this particular chart, I'll have to blank off the data I don't want. This is
different each time, hence I'll need to resort to a "master" rather than the
previous months version of the same chart!

Be far easier if Excel would allow me to choose a part of a series and to
take this up in the chart at the desired X axis points!

Allan

 

[Jon Peltier]

Instead of blanking off the data you don't want, you could set up another
column with formulas that only include data within limits you set. See how
portions of a series are included and excluded in my Conditional Charting
article:

http://www.peltiertech.com/Excel/Charts/ConditionalChart1.html

- Jon