Change XY tick labels from numeric to text

Hi all.
Hope you can help.
I am exploring a huge dataset of data by U.S. zip codes.
Each row is a zip code, the state the zip belongs to, the state number,
and a count of widgets.
91234 AK 2 0.123
91872 AK 2 0.234
91232 AK 2 0.345
26271 AZ 3 0.111
23111 AZ 3 0.222

Although this might sound strange, I am graphing the entire dataset as
an XY scatter plot --- with the state number as the x values and the
widgets as the y-values. The resultant plot shows the distribution of
widgets for each state very quickly and easily and all on one graph.

I'd like to replace the tick mark labels on the x-axis from state
numbers (2,3,4, etc) to state abbreviations (AK,AZ,CA).

I know that I can create text boxes that contain the abbreviations and
place them manually below the tick mark --- but when I graph some other
variable the size of the graph changes slightly and the text boxes no
longer line up with the original tick mark labels.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Thanks,

-jennifer

Hi,

Have a look at Jon Peltier's page on arbitary axis scale. The same
principle can be applied to the x axis.
http://peltiertech.com/Excel/Charts/ArbitraryAxis.html

Cheers
Andy

jennifer wrote:
> Hi all.
> Hope you can help.
> I am exploring a huge dataset of data by U.S. zip codes.
> Each row is a zip code, the state the zip belongs to, the state number,
> and a count of widgets.
> 91234 AK 2 0.123
> 91872 AK 2 0.234
> 91232 AK 2 0.345
> 26271 AZ 3 0.111
> 23111 AZ 3 0.222
>
> Although this might sound strange, I am graphing the entire dataset as
> an XY scatter plot --- with the state number as the x values and the
> widgets as the y-values. The resultant plot shows the distribution of
> widgets for each state very quickly and easily and all on one graph.
>
> I'd like to replace the tick mark labels on the x-axis from state
> numbers (2,3,4, etc) to state abbreviations (AK,AZ,CA).
>
> I know that I can create text boxes that contain the abbreviations and
> place them manually below the tick mark --- but when I graph some other
> variable the size of the graph changes slightly and the text boxes no
> longer line up with the original tick mark labels.
>
> Any suggestions would be appreciated.
>
> Thanks,
>
> -jennifer
>

--

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

This worked like a charm!
Thanks for the quick response.

-jennifer