Thread: formatting lines in charts

I would like to be able to format a single line in a chart (representing the
time period 2002 to 2010) to be solid for actual data and dotted for
projected data, but I only seem to be able to change the format of the entire
line. Can anybody out there help me?

Karen,

Put your projected data in a separate series (probably a separate column,
depending on how your data is laid out).
--
Earl Kiosterud
www.smokeylake.com

"Karen Saberi" <KarenSaberi@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9D6167C4-9BBC-48BB-B266-BC200767575A@microsoft.com...
>I would like to be able to format a single line in a chart (representing
>the
> time period 2002 to 2010) to be solid for actual data and dotted for
> projected data, but I only seem to be able to change the format of the
> entire
> line. Can anybody out there help me?

I tried doing that at one stage, but then found that I had two lines, rather
than a single time series, with the X-axis only showing labels for the years
with the actual, rather than projected data. Is there any way of avoiding
this happening?

"Earl Kiosterud" wrote:

> Karen,
>
> Put your projected data in a separate series (probably a separate column,
> depending on how your data is laid out).
> --
> Earl Kiosterud
> www.smokeylake.com
>
> "Karen Saberi" <KarenSaberi@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:9D6167C4-9BBC-48BB-B266-BC200767575A@microsoft.com...
> >I would like to be able to format a single line in a chart (representing
> >the
> > time period 2002 to 2010) to be solid for actual data and dotted for
> > projected data, but I only seem to be able to change the format of the
> > entire
> > line. Can anybody out there help me?
>
>
>

Hi Karen,

Here is an example of what Earl was describing.
http://www.andypope.info/ngs/ng45.htm

Cheers
Andy

Karen Saberi wrote:
> I tried doing that at one stage, but then found that I had two lines, rather
> than a single time series, with the X-axis only showing labels for the years
> with the actual, rather than projected data. Is there any way of avoiding
> this happening?
>
> "Earl Kiosterud" wrote:
>
>
>>Karen,
>>
>>Put your projected data in a separate series (probably a separate column,
>>depending on how your data is laid out).
>>--
>>Earl Kiosterud
>>www.smokeylake.com
>>
>>"Karen Saberi" <KarenSaberi@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>>news:9D6167C4-9BBC-48BB-B266-BC200767575A@microsoft.com...
>>
>>>I would like to be able to format a single line in a chart (representing
>>>the
>>>time period 2002 to 2010) to be solid for actual data and dotted for
>>>projected data, but I only seem to be able to change the format of the
>>>entire
>>>line. Can anybody out there help me?
>>
>>
>>

--

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

Thank you Andy. Since making this post I came across another post that
helped me, and there is another way of doing this, which is simply to stick
to one series, to highlight the whole line on the chart and then to click
again to select the individual segment you want (I didn't realise you could
do this). You can then change the format of just that part of the line. I
think the guy who first created the chart must have done this, because there
only seems to be one data series.

"Andy Pope" wrote:

> Hi Karen,
>
> Here is an example of what Earl was describing.
> http://www.andypope.info/ngs/ng45.htm
>
> Cheers
> Andy
>
> Karen Saberi wrote:
> > I tried doing that at one stage, but then found that I had two lines, rather
> > than a single time series, with the X-axis only showing labels for the years
> > with the actual, rather than projected data. Is there any way of avoiding
> > this happening?
> >
> > "Earl Kiosterud" wrote:
> >
> >
> >>Karen,
> >>
> >>Put your projected data in a separate series (probably a separate column,
> >>depending on how your data is laid out).
> >>--
> >>Earl Kiosterud
> >>www.smokeylake.com
> >>
> >>"Karen Saberi" <KarenSaberi@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> >>news:9D6167C4-9BBC-48BB-B266-BC200767575A@microsoft.com...
> >>
> >>>I would like to be able to format a single line in a chart (representing
> >>>the
> >>>time period 2002 to 2010) to be solid for actual data and dotted for
> >>>projected data, but I only seem to be able to change the format of the
> >>>entire
> >>>line. Can anybody out there help me?
> >>
> >>
> >>
>
> --
>
> Andy Pope, Microsoft MVP - Excel
> http://www.andypope.info
>

Hi Karen,

Indeed it is possible to format individual segments of the line. The
only draw back with this is if you only have 1 series the legend expands
and each segments appears. If you don't need the legend then this is not
a problem. If you do need the legend then just add another data series,
this make the legend revert to show 2 series. You can delete the extra
data series from the legend and format it such that it does not appear
in the chart.

Either way glad you managed to get sorted.

Cheers
Andy

Karen Saberi wrote:
> Thank you Andy. Since making this post I came across another post that
> helped me, and there is another way of doing this, which is simply to stick
> to one series, to highlight the whole line on the chart and then to click
> again to select the individual segment you want (I didn't realise you could
> do this). You can then change the format of just that part of the line. I
> think the guy who first created the chart must have done this, because there
> only seems to be one data series.
>
> "Andy Pope" wrote:
>
>
>>Hi Karen,
>>
>>Here is an example of what Earl was describing.
>>http://www.andypope.info/ngs/ng45.htm
>>
>>Cheers
>>Andy
>>
>>Karen Saberi wrote:
>>
>>>I tried doing that at one stage, but then found that I had two lines, rather
>>>than a single time series, with the X-axis only showing labels for the years
>>>with the actual, rather than projected data. Is there any way of avoiding
>>>this happening?
>>>
>>>"Earl Kiosterud" wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>Karen,
>>>>
>>>>Put your projected data in a separate series (probably a separate column,
>>>>depending on how your data is laid out).
>>>>--
>>>>Earl Kiosterud
>>>>www.smokeylake.com
>>>>
>>>>"Karen Saberi" <KarenSaberi@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>>>>news:9D6167C4-9BBC-48BB-B266-BC200767575A@microsoft.com...
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>I would like to be able to format a single line in a chart (representing
>>>>>the
>>>>>time period 2002 to 2010) to be solid for actual data and dotted for
>>>>>projected data, but I only seem to be able to change the format of the
>>>>>entire
>>>>>line. Can anybody out there help me?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>--
>>
>>Andy Pope, Microsoft MVP - Excel
>>http://www.andypope.info
>>

--

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