excel 2007, how to select a data point and cycle through data points

[bmurphy]

I've searched the archives but can find nothing on this topic.

Prior to excel 2007, I could select a data series (xy scatter chart)
and press the right arrow key to cycle through the data points, and a
data point highlighter would move from point to point so I would know
which point was currently selected. Through many versions of excel I
have found this feature very useful.

Excel 2007 seems to be missing the little data point highlighter. I
can still format individual data points, but I don't know beforehand
which point is selected.

Is this a know feature of excel 2007? Is it known a bug?

Thanks,

Brian Murphy

 

[bmurphy]

I have an addition.

I have now seen that on at leaste some charts the point highlighter
does appear in excel 2007.

In one file of mine with two charts on a worksheet, the point
highlighter appears on one chart but not the other. In all other
excel versions, the highlighter always appears on all charts.

Brian

 

[Andy Pope]

Hi,

For me I see a visual clue by the 4 dots enclosing each data point as I move
through.
Additionally if you click the Layout or Format contextual tab you will see
the name of the currently selected item in the Current Selection group.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Jon Peltier]

FWIW, I cannot reproduce Brian's problem. When highlighting a series, Excel
2007 (and prior versions) may not highlight each point in the series, but
when arrowing through the points, each point in turn is highlighted.

I have added the Chart Elements dropdown to my QAT, where I've found it very
helpful. (It and the PT Wizard the only things I've added to the QAT, due to
a philosophical problem with the QAT, but that's another story.)

Brian - I know your charts are very detailed, with many series of many
points. If the marker size is small, the four dots are harder to see. (In
general I feel that the element highlighting in Excel 2007 is less visible
than in prior versions, but I guess they had to change the whole look and
feel of the interface.) With complex charts, especially those that go
through a lot of revision during their history, funny things sometimes
happen. If you rebuild your troublesome chart from scratch in one sequence
of steps, does it then behave?

- Jon

 

[bmurphy]

A file containing one worksheet with two charts is at the following
location

www.rotordynamics.org/public/book2.xlsx

For me, the top chart in this file does not show the highlighter, the
bottom chart does.

There aren't a whole lot of points or series in these charts, and the
symbol sizes are the same.

I just re-ran the macro that created that sheet and those charts, and
the charts on the newly created sheet do show the highlighter on both
charts.

I guess Excel 2007 has its own ideas about when to show the
highlighter, and when not to.

Brian

 

[Jon Peltier]

A file containing one worksheet with two charts is at the following

location

"The page cannot be found."

I just re-ran the macro that created that sheet and those charts, and
the charts on the newly created sheet do show the highlighter on both
charts.

This backs up my suggestion that there was "something wrong" with the
original file. What it was, I can't say. Sometimes we say a chart, a sheet,
or a workbook is "corrupt", without really knowing what that means. But
starting over with a fresh chart, sheet, or workbook clears up the problem.
Gremlins on your hard drive? Cosmic rays?

- Jon