Chart formatting

I would like to format my chart so that the background color is transparent.

I do format chart area --> patterns ---> fill effects, but the option to make it transparent is blocked out.

Any ideas about how to get around this? Basically I am combining graphs by placing them on top of one another for purpose of design.

Alex

I hope there's a better workaround than this, but the one I have used is to draw an autoshape roughly the same size and shape as your area, no border, and fill it with your color of choice. Copy it and save it as a picture file in whatever format you prefer. Now use the picture as a fill, and you can set it to the desired degree of transparency. Elegant? No. But it works. I have found that if the picture is much larger or smaller, or shaped differently, the stretching affects the color, so for best color results make it about the same size and shape as the final area.

Hope this helps.