Excel bounding boxes on chart data sources

[John]

Why don't Excel bounding boxes appear on some chart data sources? When I
click on some charts, they appear, while other charts they don't. What
setting controls this?

 

[ShaneDevenshire]

Hi John,

By "bounding boxes" I assume that you mean the highlight around the source
data.

One reason might be what you are selecting - for example, if you select the
chart gridlines the highlight will not appear.

Another reason - if you select a series on a pivot chart the corresponding
range does not highlight.

Also, if the source range is complex, for example a single series using
non-contiguous ranges will not display the highlight.

If the data series has been converted to values no range will be highlighted.

 

[John]

Thanks Shane. Yes, I am referring to the highlight around the source data.
But I am not referring to the chart gridlines. I do see the bounding boxes on
all charts when I select individual bars or lines. I am not using pivot
tables.

I want to verify what you mean by "non-contiguous ranges" and "converted to
values". All my charts are relatively the same, but only one allows me to see
the bounding boxes around all of the chart's data sources simply by clicking
on a clear area of the chart (such as the bottom right corner). In other
words, I don't click on any specific data set within the chart. I can send
you a sample of my charts if you like.

Thanks again!

 

[John]

SOLUTION:
1) Charted source data must be contiguous
2) Select Data source must be in the same order as Source Data