Shading of an Area Chart

[Cassie]

Hi
How can I part shade an area chart
I want to show the first 4 months of the year in one colour and the
remainder of the year in another
Thanks
Cassie

 

[Jon Peltier]

If you're using actual dates, it's pretty easy. You just need a simple
modification of the data so you get two series (one for each color). Here is
12 months of data, arranged to plot before May 1 in red and after May 1 in
blue:

Red Blue
1/1/2008 11 0
2/1/2008 7 0
3/1/2008 12 0
4/1/2008 7 0
5/1/2008 15 0
5/1/2008 0 15
6/1/2008 0 13
7/1/2008 0 16
8/1/2008 0 12
9/1/2008 0 17
10/1/2008 0 16
11/1/2008 0 18
12/1/2008 0 19
1/1/2009 0 20

The top left cell is blank. Select the data and make the area chart. Excel
should recognize the dates and give you a date-scale X axis. If not you can
change that from the Chart menu > Chart Options > Axes dialog (Excel 2003
and earlier) or from the dialog you get when you right click the axis and
choose Format Axis.

- Jon

 

[Jon Peltier]

I forgot to point out that the data for 5/1/2008 is repeated. In one case
(Red) the data goes from the value to zero, in the other (Blue) from zero to
the value. When you have multiple values for the same date in a date scale
axis, all values are plotted in a vertical line on that date.

- Jon