Scatter Plot graph

I have dates on the x-axis of a scatter plot. The dates appear correctly on
the plot itself but when I double click the x-axis (Format Axis dialog box),
and go to the Scale tab, the minimum and maximum boxes are all numerical. The
dates are automatically converted to numbers when setting the minimum and
maximum boundries of the x-axis. Can the Scale tab be somehow setup to
display the boundaries in date format (just like they are displayed when
using a normal line chart)? Thanks for any help in advance.
Tom.

Tom -

What I often do is create a line chart with two dummy points, one at the
minimum X and Y in the data, and the other at the maximum X and Y. I use
this to provide a nice date-based X axis. I format this series to be
invisible (no lines, no markers). Then I add the other series (copy the
data, Paste Special from the Edit menu to add it to the chart as new series,
categories in the first column, etc), and convert just the series to the XY
type. If Excel helpfully adds secondary axes, you can just as helpfully
remove them by double clicking on the XY series, and on the Axis tab, choose
Primary. Now all series in the chart use the primary axes.

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Peltier Technical Services - Tutorials and Custom Solutions -
http://PeltierTech.com/
2006 Excel User Conference, 19-21 April, Atlantic City, NJ
http://peltiertech.com/Excel/ExcelUserConf06.html
_______

"Tom" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>I have dates on the x-axis of a scatter plot. The dates appear correctly on
> the plot itself but when I double click the x-axis (Format Axis dialog
> box),
> and go to the Scale tab, the minimum and maximum boxes are all numerical.
> The
> dates are automatically converted to numbers when setting the minimum and
> maximum boundries of the x-axis. Can the Scale tab be somehow setup to
> display the boundaries in date format (just like they are displayed when
> using a normal line chart)? Thanks for any help in advance.
> Tom.