If this is your first visit, be sure to check out the FAQ by clicking the link above. You may have to register before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages, select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below. |
|
|
Thread Tools | Display Modes |
#1
|
|||
|
|||
For chart syles, why doesn't color order match series order?
I applied a chart style to several charts in the same workbook, which each
link to the same three separate excel files. Each series is named for one of these three files, and they are in the same order in all charts, however, the order of the colors is different in each of the charts, and some even have the color that the style would use for a fourth series even though there are only three. I would like the data from each source file to be the same color on all plots so it's not confusing to the viewer when switching between charts in a presentation. How does Excel decide which series gets which color if it's not determined by series order? Is there a hierarchy (something like "series order") that is hidden? How can I change this so that the "color order" is the same in all plots? I could of course do this by manually each series, but would prefer to understand what's going on. |
#2
|
|||
|
|||
For chart syles, why doesn't color order match series order?
You've touched upon one of the mysteries of our time. The order of
colors in an Excel chart is related to when each series was added to the chart. If you change the plot order, you still haven't changed the order that the series were added. To make it confusing, if a series is deleted from the middle of the order, the next series added takes its place in the middle of the order. You probably spent a lot of time on one chart, tweaked it, added and removed series until it was just right. Then the others you assembled much more quickly without all the false starts. So they don't all match up as your eyes tell you they should. The way to make the charts all the same is to carefully build them in parallel, adding series to the charts in the same order. This description is for Excel 97 through 2003. There are enough other mysteries with Excel 2007 charts, that I haven't gotten to such minor trivialities as the color system. - Jon ------- Jon Peltier Peltier Technical Services, Inc. http://peltiertech.com/ AMiller wrote: I applied a chart style to several charts in the same workbook, which each link to the same three separate excel files. Each series is named for one of these three files, and they are in the same order in all charts, however, the order of the colors is different in each of the charts, and some even have the color that the style would use for a fourth series even though there are only three. I would like the data from each source file to be the same color on all plots so it's not confusing to the viewer when switching between charts in a presentation. How does Excel decide which series gets which color if it's not determined by series order? Is there a hierarchy (something like "series order") that is hidden? How can I change this so that the "color order" is the same in all plots? I could of course do this by manually each series, but would prefer to understand what's going on. |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|