Chart Question

[fritz78]

I have a bar chart with product sales data, 5 of the products have small
values and one product has very high values which makes the small product
bars very small when in scale. Is there a way to break the scale so these
small bars are more visible and still show the large product value on the
same chart? I have manually drawn break lines before just wondering if there
is another way to show thiis.

THX!
Fritz
PPT 2003, XP

 

[TAJ Simmons]

Fritz

Best bet is to use a 2nd Y-Axis for the larger bars.

Right click the large bars and choose

Axis > secondary Axis

You can then adjust the scale of the 2nd axis to best fit the larger bars
without it affecting the smaller 'primary' scale

cheers
TAJ Simmons

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[fritz78]

THX TAJ,
I actually did this, the only issue with this is getting product name labels
to autoshow and also getting the dual scales to somewhat align to look good.
I need to play more. Any suggestions are always appreciated.

 

[TAJ Simmons]

fritz

ideally keep both scales at ZERO to avoid showing something false.

Another good tip is to colour the 2nd axis the same colour as the bars to
give the viewer a quick hint as to what bars relate to the 2nd axis

Most things can be set just how you like them... either double click a
label, or single click and choose "format.... whatever the name is"

cheers
TAJ

 

[fritz78]

Thanks again TAJ, the issue I have is I cannot start both scales at zero as
one of my values is a negative number which throws off the scales zero point.
I can make them close by adjusting the category x crosses at. In your
opinion is there another charting program that can give more control and
works well with PPT?
Fritz

 

[Andy Pope]

Hi,

Here is a post on doing a broken Y axis in MSGraph.
http://www.andypope.info/ngs/ng30.htm


Cheers
Andy

 

[Brian Reilly, MVP]

Andy,
how dare you use MS Grump to do this? Not expected from an Excel MVP!
(vbg)
Nice of you stop in over here.

Brian Reilly, MVP

 

[Andy Pope]

Hi Brian,

Sometimes Excel is just not challenging enough <bg>, which is why they
invented MS Grump!

Cheers
Andy