Fill bar/column charts with patterns in Excel 2007?

[Jian]

Is there anyway that I can fill a bar/column chart with patterns as I can do
with Excel 2003?

I know that MicroSoft removed this feature in Excel 2007. But I don't
understand why they do it. Lots of academic journals prefers black and white
charts than shaded or charts with gradient. Also, it's hard to tell one
series of data from another series if they are printed in black and white.

Any help is appreciated.

 

[Jon Peltier]

Excel 2007 doesn't use these patterns anymore. Did you really find them
useful in Excel 2003? They printed at such a fine resolution that different
patters were indistinguishable from one another.

- Jon

 

[Jian]

Yes, the patterns are useful. Many papers are still published in black and
white. Though some of the patterns are not distinguishable, most of them are.
Also, in terms of cost, printing black and white with a laser printer is much
cheaper than printing color pages with a color printer.

Also, in Excel 2007, use cannot customize the data points in a chart (e.g.
scatter chart).

 

[Jon Peltier]

Also, in Excel 2007, use cannot customize the data points in a chart (e.g.

scatter chart).

Could you elaborate? Excel 2007 charting may have some shortcomings, but I
don't think this is correct.

- Jon

 

[Tammy]

Hi Jon,

Do you know if there is any third party software available to add patterns
to Excel 2007 charts?

Thanks!

 

[Andy Pope]

Hi,

I have an add-in to do patterns.
http://www.andypope.info/charts/patternfills.htm

Cheers
Andy

 

[Tammy]

Thank you so much, Andy! We will give the add-in a try!

 

[Tammy]

Hi Andy,

Thank you so much for your add-in for patterns! It works great! One thing
I've come across:

If I add a pattern to a chart, forget to save, and just close the file -
Excel does not prompt me to save my changes. It's as if it doesn't recognize
using the patterns button.

Have you noticed this? Any fixes? Thanks, again!

 

[Andy Pope]

Hi,

I am not seeing that problem. If I apply a pattern to a saved file it
recognizes the need to save when closing.

What I have found is that certainly elements of the chart no longer get
recognized as valid selections. I'm wondering if this is a result of the
recent hoxfixes.
I will have to research more and update as necessary.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Andy Pope]

Still no problem with saving changes.

The other problem was user error! I was not using my latest version.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Tammy]

Hi Andy,

I just tried again, with the same result - not prompting to save changes
after applying a pattern. If I apply another format, I get prompted to save
my changes.

I added your add-in through Excel options/Add-ins - maybe it should have
been installed differently?

How very strange that you are not encountering the same problem. I'll have
to think about this one.

Thanks for testing for me! And, thanks again for the add-in.