Scatter graph order

[prrls05]

Hi All,

A scatter graph question. I have a series of points and a best fit line that I want to plot as an XY scatter plot.

The best fit line is not one of Excel's trend line. It is a data series that I calculate externally.

I want to plot the data points as points and the best fit line as a line in an XY chart. Easy.

However, whenever I do this, Excel 2007 always puts the line behind the points and I want the line to be in front. It does not matter whether I add the data for the points or the data for the line into the chart first - it always plots the line behind the points. If I plot both series as points I can get the line points to be in front of the data points but as soon as I change the series format to remove the markers and put in the line instead, the line goes to the back.

Using the series order button changes the order that the two series appear in the legend but it does not change the order that they are stacked on the chart.

Can anyone help with this?

 

[Andrew Poulsom]

Welcome to MrExcel.

Have you tried putting the line on the secondary y axis? That works in Excel 2003.

 

[prrls05]

Thank you Andrew,

I will try that.

Is there a generic approach if, for example, one has many plots on the same graph and wants to be able to specify what order they display in?

Most usefully, that would be the same as the order that the plots are shown in the Legend.

I'm surprised this doesn't seem to be the case.

 

[Andrew Poulsom]

The Series Order determines the order in which the series are plotted. But that doesn't mean that the line for a series with a line and no markers will appear in front of the markers for a series with markers but no line (unfortunately).