incorrect values on line chart X axis

[jan001]

Using Excel 2010, I created a very simple line chart showing activity of a certain type, like this:
Column A (Date of Report)
01/06/14
01/13/14
01/28/14
02/03/14
02/10/14
02/28/14
03/07/14
03/14/07
03/21/14
03/28/14
04/04/14
04/18/14

Column B (Number of Incidents Reported)
700
374
372
359
410
544
540
549
471
491
686
577

When I select those two columns of data for a line chart, the chart itself renders just fine but the X-axis values, instead of displaying the dates, shows the first one - 01/06/14 - but after that just the 6th of each month -- 02/06/14, 03/06/14, etc. -- even though those dates aren't in the data I selected.

I see what it's doing -- showing a mid-range along the axis -- and it makes sense when you look at it, but it's not what I want. I want the specific dates to show up. If it's crowded, and it will be, all I have to do is monkey with the font size and alignment till it looks the way I want it to.

It's apparently something set in Excel, not in the individual sheet, because when I opened a new Excel window and created another chart to test, it did the same thing. I looked under File > Options, but didn't see anything that addressed it. The values in column A are formatted as dates. I re-set them to text instead, but that didn't change anything so I put them back to dates.

I'm not aware of setting anything differently. What in the world did I do and where do I go to fix it?

 

[mole999]

i would look to create a text label that looks like the date on a parallel row / column and you that for display, though it should also allow you to use the values as presented

 

[Jon Peltier]

Format the horizontal axis, and choose the Text Axis option. By default, if the X values are dates, Excel uses a Date Axis.