formatting lines in an excel graph

[Christina S]

Hi,

using excel (Microsoft office 2007), when I try to format a line in a graph
my worsheet either takes forever, or completely freezes before I can edit the
line. All I want to do is change the line from being a red line to being a
dotted black line, for example. The data that is in the graphs is stored in
another excel file, which I think makes it work more slowly as well. Has
anyone else had that problem? is there an update for it?


Thanks,

Christina

 

[Jon Peltier]

Anything that involves much more than default formatting of Excel 2007
charts is likely to increase the time it takes the chart to redraw. I
suspect in the upcoming SP1 (don't ask when it's expected) that issues like
this will be improved.

- Jon

 

[Tschurin]

I too have had this problem...in fact, when trying to change the color of a
line I get a message that reads: "complex formatting that is applied to the
selected chart may take a while to display.†Jon, are you sure this is an
excel shortcoming and not something that some of us are doing wrong?

I’ve also tried to search the topic via Google to see what others have to
say and didn’t quickly find any similar complaints or comments. It’s hard to
believe that a problem this annoying hasn’t become an issue worth commenting
on.

 

[Jon Peltier]

When should changing the color of a line be considered "complex formatting
[...] applied to the selected chart [that] may take a while to display"?
Seriously, only in Excel 2007 charts, with their reliance on the new Office
shape paradigm. For another illustration of this issue, copy an Excel 2007
chart, paste it as a picture in PowerPoint, and ungroup it. Do you get
individual lines for the gridlines? No, you get an indivisible shape with
lines across it. Do you get lines for the axes? No, actually, you should
find that they are rectangles which can be stretched to ridiculous
thicknesses. And the antialiasing of the chart's component shapes seems
independent of the screen once the chart is pasted as a picture. It's a
terrible mess, but it's also unfortunately "by design".

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
Peltier Technical Services, Inc. - http://PeltierTech.com
_______

 

[Tschurin]

Jon

Thanks for your response. Being a definite non-expert myself, I’ll take your
word that this is a Microsoft problem. Still I find it interesting that such
an obvious inconvenience hasn’t elicited more on-line comment, even in this
discussion group [perhaps I’m just not entering the correct search terms]. I
also note that even just to select a particular data series represented in a
line chart seems to take a lot longer than it used to.

--
Geoff

When should changing the color of a line be considered "complex formatting
[...] applied to the selected chart [that] may take a while to display"?
Seriously, only in Excel 2007 charts, with their reliance on the new Office
shape paradigm. For another illustration of this issue, copy an Excel 2007
chart, paste it as a picture in PowerPoint, and ungroup it. Do you get
individual lines for the gridlines? No, you get an indivisible shape with
lines across it. Do you get lines for the axes? No, actually, you should
find that they are rectangles which can be stretched to ridiculous
thicknesses. And the antialiasing of the chart's component shapes seems
independent of the screen once the chart is pasted as a picture. It's a
terrible mess, but it's also unfortunately "by design".

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
Peltier Technical Services, Inc. - http://PeltierTech.com
_______

 

[Martha]

I have only been using Excel 2007 for about two months. I see this problem
has been around for well over a year. This is just flat out unacceptable.
All I want to do is change the line weight of a line on an xy chart, and by
"may take a while to display," Microsoft means you will NEVER see it. This
is SUCH a basic need of chart users. Over a YEAR to fix it? PLEASE fix this.

When should changing the color of a line be considered "complex formatting
[...] applied to the selected chart [that] may take a while to display"?
Seriously, only in Excel 2007 charts, with their reliance on the new Office
shape paradigm. For another illustration of this issue, copy an Excel 2007
chart, paste it as a picture in PowerPoint, and ungroup it. Do you get
individual lines for the gridlines? No, you get an indivisible shape with
lines across it. Do you get lines for the axes? No, actually, you should
find that they are rectangles which can be stretched to ridiculous
thicknesses. And the antialiasing of the chart's component shapes seems
independent of the screen once the chart is pasted as a picture. It's a
terrible mess, but it's also unfortunately "by design".

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
Peltier Technical Services, Inc. - http://PeltierTech.com
_______