Changing secondary vertical axis values

**KINNEY0201** · 09-14-2010, 10:14 AM

I have a column chart with both primary and secondary vertical axis'. Because of the range of data used in the chart I need to know if there is a way to change the secondary vertical axis values to fit my needs.

This is what I am trying to accomplish:

1.) Have values on secondary vertical access start at 0 and then go up to 4.

THEN

2.) Continue on from there starting at 9000 through 1100.

Can someone tell me if this is possible and how to accomplish?

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

**teylyn** · 09-14-2010, 10:22 AM

To best describe or illustrate your problem you would be better off attaching a dummy workbook, the workbook should contain the same structure and some dummy data of the same type as the type you have in your real workbook - so, if a cell contains numbers & letters in this format abc-123 then that should be reflected in the dummy workbook.

If needed supply a before and after sheet in the workbook so the person helping you can see what you are trying to achieve.

Doing this will ensure you get the result you need!

Sounds like you want to create a "broken axis". Without seeing your data it will be hard to give advice.

**KINNEY0201** · 09-14-2010, 10:52 AM

Ok, I have attached the original chart and I have written on there what I am looking to do. Basically, as you can see, the Median GPA's will be lost if I do not change the values to what I have written.

I would appreciate the help.

Thanks,

**teylyn** · 09-14-2010, 07:34 PM

Yes, broken Y axis would be the way to go.

The idea is that you create a gap or break in the Y axis and can use one scale below and a different scale above the gap.

The bad news is that Excel does not offer that functionality.

The good news is that a few people have come up with clever workarounds. See Andy Pope's version http://andypope.info/charts/brokencolumn.htm and Jon Peltier's tutorial http://peltiertech.com/Excel/Charts/BrokenYAxis.html

If you need help with this, post your data in an Excel sheet and the chart from the PDF.

cheers