Thread: xy scatterplot: Alphanumeric characters as marker symbols?

I'd like to use alphanumeric characters as marker symbols in an xy scatterplot -- however, Excel only appears to support geometric figures such as squares, circles, triangles, etc.
Is there any way to expand these limited options?

Thanks,
Holger

Hi,

See Jon's page on custom markers.
http://peltiertech.com/Excel/ChartsH...omMarkers.html

Cheers
Andy

holg3r wrote:
> I'd like to use alphanumeric characters as marker symbols in an xy
> scatterplot -- however, Excel only appears to support geometric figures
> such as squares, circles, triangles, etc.
> Is there any way to expand these limited options?
>
> Thanks,
> Holger
>
>

--

Andy Pope, Microsoft MVP - Excel
http://www.andypope.info

Here's a trick that's never made it to the web site.

Use square or circular markers a little larger than the size of a
character, make the Foreground color "No Color" and match the Background
color to the Plot Area fill color. This prevents gridlines and series
connector lines from obscuring the labels you're going to apply next.

Put the labels you want to use for the points into a worksheet range,
preferrably a column (or row) next to the X and Y data. Use one of these
free and easy to install & use Excel add-ins to apply labels from this
range to the data points:

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

Use the "Center" alignment of the labels to apply them right over the
markers formatted above.

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


Andy Pope wrote:

> Hi,
>
> See Jon's page on custom markers.
> http://peltiertech.com/Excel/ChartsH...omMarkers.html
>
> Cheers
> Andy
>
> holg3r wrote:
>
>> I'd like to use alphanumeric characters as marker symbols in an xy
>> scatterplot -- however, Excel only appears to support geometric figures
>> such as squares, circles, triangles, etc.
>> Is there any way to expand these limited options?
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Holger
>>
>>
>

Thanks, Andy and Jon. Both solutions meet my needs.

Cheers,
Holger