![]() You can format the axis so that it shows every label (in other words, it uses a label interval unit of 1), but now we see that the labels are beginning to overlap (right chart below). This is what Patricia was talking about, but when she said Excel hides the last label, I didn’t realize she meant Excel was hiding alternating axis labels. You can format the labels so they are horizontal, but Excel uses another of its favorite tricks: it only shows alternating labels, starting with the first (left chart below). They fit fine, but they are harder to read than horizontal labels. When I shrink the chart a bit further to 2.5 inches in width, Excel realizes that the axis labels won’t all fit, and it uses one of its favorite tricks: Excel has rotated the axis labels 90° (see chart below). It helps that I’ve used the three-letter abbreviations for the month names, and I’ve shrunk the axis label font size from 9 to 8 points (and I’ve also shrunk the chart title from a ridiculous default of 14 points down to 9 points). ![]() The month labels all appear in these charts. The figure below shows three charts, each 1.5 inches tall, at widths of 5, 4, and 3 inches. The default chart in US versions of Excel is 5 inches wide and 3 inches tall. I’ll illustrate by showing larger charts and a really simple data set. When you shrink the chart, and the labels get close together, Excel does little things to prevent axis labels from overlapping. Excel doesn’t drop off the last category axis label on a chart. ![]() She mentions that plotting 13 months of data will avoid this problem. If you make a 12-month chart, as you shrink the chart, for example to fit it into a dashboard, Excel drops off the last month’s axis label. ![]() My colleague Patrica McCarthy, the Excel Diva, wrote in 12 Months Data – 13 Months Data in a Chart last week about a problem with Excel charts.
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