Plotting a current Date Vertical Line

I have 2 sets of data, Both have an x-axis that is a date and time (12/7/2009
3:00 AM) and the y axis is count. The two sets of data are a current data
set, and a perfect world data set. Both of the data sets look in the past
and the future. I want to plot a vertical line that represents the current
Date and Time (I am using =now() to create that line. The vertical line
works and is positioned on the correct location on my XY plot.

The Problem, the first two data sets rather than being at 12/6/2009 through
12/12/2009 are all the way back at the start of the Excel Date scheme,
1/1/1900. The X ranges for all three sets are formated the same (m/d/yyyy
h:mm), the date reads correctly in the cells but once it gets into the chart,
the x Value for the current and perfect world go to 1,2,3,4. When I look in
the dialog box for selecting the ranges, the values appear correctly there.

What am I missing?

Hi,

Sounds like you have at least 1 of your cells as text.
Try put 1 in a spare cell and then copy it.
Select your date range and use PasteSpecial+Multiply to force text to
values.

Cheers
Andy

Albert H. Bell wrote:
I have 2 sets of data, Both have an x-axis that is a date and time (12/7/2009
3:00 AM) and the y axis is count. The two sets of data are a current data
set, and a perfect world data set. Both of the data sets look in the past
and the future. I want to plot a vertical line that represents the current
Date and Time (I am using =now() to create that line. The vertical line
works and is positioned on the correct location on my XY plot.

The Problem, the first two data sets rather than being at 12/6/2009 through
12/12/2009 are all the way back at the start of the Excel Date scheme,
1/1/1900. The X ranges for all three sets are formated the same (m/d/yyyy
h:mm), the date reads correctly in the cells but once it gets into the chart,
the x Value for the current and perfect world go to 1,2,3,4. When I look in
the dialog box for selecting the ranges, the values appear correctly there.

What am I missing?




--

Andy Pope, Microsoft MVP - Excel
http://www.andypope.info

You haven't told us what type of chart you are using. Is it an XY or a line
chart?
If it's a line chart you may need to look at whether you have chosen
"category" or "time-scale" as the X-axis type under Chart Options/ Axes
If it's an XY it may just be that you've got the wrong format under Format
Axis/ Number.
--
David Biddulph

"Albert H. Bell" wrote in message
...
I have 2 sets of data, Both have an x-axis that is a date and time
(12/7/2009
3:00 AM) and the y axis is count. The two sets of data are a current data
set, and a perfect world data set. Both of the data sets look in the past
and the future. I want to plot a vertical line that represents the
current
Date and Time (I am using =now() to create that line. The vertical line
works and is positioned on the correct location on my XY plot.

The Problem, the first two data sets rather than being at 12/6/2009
through
12/12/2009 are all the way back at the start of the Excel Date scheme,
1/1/1900. The X ranges for all three sets are formated the same (m/d/yyyy
h:mm), the date reads correctly in the cells but once it gets into the
chart,
the x Value for the current and perfect world go to 1,2,3,4. When I look
in
the dialog box for selecting the ranges, the values appear correctly
there.

What am I missing?