Dates & Vertical Axis

[Quinton]

Hello I have a graph that shows the following info:

Horizontal Axis = Plot 1, Plot 2, Plot 3 Etc.
Vertical Axis = Dates

My graphs vertical axis can't seem to control the date spacing - example below:

29/08/11
09/07/11
22/05/11
01/04/11

I would like the vertical axis to be constant - i.e.

01/08/11
01/07/11
01/06/11
01/05/11
01/04/11

I can control the minimum unit by typing the date into the "minimum axis option tab". But I cant do this for the maximum, major & minor units. I tried typing in "month" to the minor unit but this did not work.

Any ideas?

Many thanks!

 

[Steve=True]

For the Y Axis, change your major unit to the number of days that you want between intervals.

1 for every day
3 for every 3 days
30 for every 30 days

Steve=True
www.exceldashboardtemplates.com

 

[Quinton]

THanks for your response but it only works for months that have 30 days in it. Any ideas on months with 28 & 31 - I'm guessing it can't be done?

Cheers,

 

[Steve=True]

There are probably work arounds for this. Perhaps you can post a sample so that a direct solution can be developed.

Also, there is a great chart labeler out there that you may want to use.

 

[Jon Peltier]

What kind of chart is it?

Horizontal bar chart:
Convert the vertical (date) axis into a Date Scale axis, then pick your starting date, the base unit (probably days) and the other axis parameters. The bars will become very thin, less than one day wide.

It's not common to put dates on the vertical axis. Time lines are much more intuitive with dates on the horizontal. Also with dates on the horizontal, you won't need to use bars, you can make a line chart instead.