Excel 2007 : Vertical Error Bars under Stacked Bar Chart Data?

**iamabes** · 07-15-2011, 05:50 AM

Please could someone help me with some chart configuration?

I have created a stacked bar chart that shows project stage data in the style of a gantt chart. I wanted the x axis labels to be dates (the end of each month to be precise), but found I was limited using the x axis itself in that I could only set a fixed interval between the values.

So, I removed the x axis and the gridlines, and added a new series of data with vertical error bars to replace the gridlines with the appropriate formatting etc.

It all works, except the error bars appear on top of the original stacked bar data, whereas I would prefer them to be underneath, like typical gridlines would be.

I have changed the series order by moving my new x-axis series to the very top of the list in the 'select data' view, but the bars are still on top of the stacked bar data.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

**tigertiger** · 07-15-2011, 07:24 AM

Plz, see the link, it may useful for solving yr problem

http://peltiertech.com/Excel/ChartsHowTo/ErrorBars.html

**iamabes** · 07-15-2011, 07:37 AM

Thank you for the quick response tigertiger, in fact the link you provided is one of the ones I referred to when creating my gridline error bars in the first place.

Whilst it is an excellent article, I couldn't find anything in there that would help resolve my particular problem. In my case, I have added a set of 'gridline' error bars to a stacked bar chart, but the vertical error bars are being drawn over the top of the horizontal stacked bars, when I want them to be drawn below to give the effect of being gridlines.

**Andy Pope** · 07-15-2011, 09:01 AM

If you use a area chart with the axis as dates you can get the error bars behind the floating bars.

Depending of the require gridline positions you may need to factor up the x values used and treat the secondary axis as a date axis.

**iamabes** · 07-15-2011, 01:32 PM

This is excellent Andy, thank you.

Presumably though, since my original requirement was for month-end gridlines, redrawing my chart in the way you have suggested actually solves this without the use of error bars?

I think this has solved my problem, so I'll mark the thread as solved, but may I send you my workbook separately for you to see how I have applied your solution?