Is it all in Excel date format or as text? Make sure all the dates are in the format Excel recognizes as dates – not text. We nerds call it normalizing data, normal humans call it making the dates all the same type and look.īefore making a date based chart, look carefully at the date data. The trick isn’t in the chart, it’s in the data. The top axis options can be adjusted – for example you could change the scale to start and end or change the unit settings so there’s not so many labels along the axis.ĭon’t be afraid to tinker with the chart settings and formatting because Undo is your friend and constant companion.
Under ‘Axis Type’ you can force Excel to consider the data text or date but if Excel has guessed wrong then there’s usually a problem with the source data. Chart | Format Axis in older Excel for Windows
