Thread: [SOLVED] Simple charting too complex!!

I've searched and perused and can't find anything close to what I need.

something so simple is so unintuitive......

I have a spreadsheet with peoples names, dates and days traveled.

All Im looking to do is to have a chart that along the vertical axis shows the name of each person (8 total)

then along the horizontal axis for ech person showing the number of days traveled.

THAT'S IT! that's all I need.

What I get is a veritcal axis with a bunch of numbers going from 1-26 and a horizontal axis with something else and a legend with their names.

I don't need a legend, I don't even need axis titles.

I want to see

john -------------
joe ---------------------------
jim ----------
jack -------------------------------------
_________________________________________
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7


something along those lines.

I've tried selecting the names in the spreadsheet and creating a chart but that doesn't work. Tried selecting days gone and trying to change labels, but that doesn't work. Nothing about this is intuitive for me. I figured if I want to change the "axis properties" that would include the data along that axis, which is NOT the case.

I'm not illiterate when it comes to this stuff it's just nothing out there so far has pointed me in the right directionl.

Any help appreciated, thanks.

You need to put names in one column and days in the next. Two columns of data only. Select the range, make a horizontal bar chart, with series in columns.

Ok ...

excel03.jpg shows the latest incarnation and the direction I'm trying to go in. The chart shows the number 1 on the x-axis when it neesd to be the persons name. If i try to add any other names to this they all end up being with the same series being the same color with a single name on the x-axis.

clear as mud?

Excel04.jpg sorry to keep posting so much, I just want to be sure anyone understands the direction im trying to go. This latest iteration is placing one name on the x-axis when in fact it should have all the names. Even the the number is 0, it should still have the persons name there. its showing seperate series in the legend but not posting names, though I don't need the legend......this is kind of the right direction.

Wish excel could just read my mind and do what i want!

Post a file, not images of the file.

Excel charts off data that has empty rows is not the easiest task. Re-arrange your data to be contiguous.

I always tell people that five minutes well spent with your data will save five hours of frustration.

You need to take a little care with the chart source data. You can't use data that has been laid out for reading in a table. All those blank rows and cells just mess up the chart.

As I told you before: two columns. Names in the first, values in the second. Keep the range compact: no blank rows. Now make the chart.

P.S. To teylyn: FWIW, I would rather have the image files. I will not spend time opening and hunting through someone's workbook. People tend to get lazy with descriptions when they just post a workbook. I'd rather read the description they spent a little time to compose.

But that's just me, I guess.

@Jon, I see your point. I often post a spreadsheet illustrating my suggestions. Starting off with a user's spreadsheet instead of creating a workbook from scratch is my personal preference.

I started out in the old text newsgroups. It was important to describe your problem - and solution - clearly using words. Too many workbooks are a big mess already, often pretty large, and not uncommonly decorated with fat borders and gaudy colors.

I figure if someone can't describe the answer clearly, it's not worth it to try to help, because they won't understand the response.

If the chart has one series by columns, if you switch rows and columns (on the first Chart Tools tab), you'll get one series per row of data, one point each series.

Okay, switch back to columns, Look for an option to color point by point. I believe that will keep the axis labels intact.

If the chart shows the names below the columns, what's the point of using different colors per column? It does not add anything useful to the chart.

Not necessarily. There may be some other encoding which the colors are good for. By region, perhaps, or for example, if you are looking at a sports statistic, the colors could be based on the teams' logos.

But yeah, in most cases, people use these colors gratuitously.