Bar Graphs

[Mitzi]

Can I change a bar graph to have an arrow at the top or bottom?

 

[Andy Pope]

Hi,

Can you describe, or better yet provide a link to an image, of what you
want. These are some of the details that need clarifying.

Does the arrow replace the column?
Does it sit on top of the column or should the point of the arrow be the
same height as the column?
And whatever appearance you want can we assume the bottom arrow follows
similar rules?

Cheers
Andy

 

[Mitzi]

Thanks for the response.

Just a regular column chart, and yes, the arrow would replace the column.
The tip of the arrow should be the ending point (top) of the column.

 

[Del Cotter]

Can I change a bar graph to have an arrow at the top or bottom?

Yes you can. Use the Autoshapes menu in the Drawing toolbar, and select
an arrow form you like the look of. When you've created it, Cut (or
Copy) it, select a bar, and Paste the arrow. The bar will now be an
arrow shape instead of a rectangle. Repeat with the other bar series
until done.

Change the border and fill colours to suit before you paste the arrow,
because you won't be able to do it afterward. If you try, you'll only
surround the arrow with a rectangular coloured border, and hide the
arrow with a rectangular fill colour.

Postscript: hey, I didn't expect that to happen! I just experimented
with copying and pasting the arrow back out of the bar and on to the
plot area again, which worked, but when I tried to change the arrow's
fill colour it didn't work. But neither did the fill colour cover the
arrow, as it did when it was part of the bar. Instead it filled *under*
the arrow, making a neat rectangular background! That's an unexpected
result. The multicoloured shape now pastes back into the bar. Repeating
the process produces a narrow border of a third fill colour around the
rectangle, but that seems to be the limit of recursion: further cutting
and pasting produces no more nested levels of fill colour.

 

[Andy Pope]

Hi Del,

Re your postscript. When you copy it back from the column it becomes a
picture, with transparency, rather than a autoshape. So setting the fill
colour will indeed colour the empty/non picture part.

Cheers
Andy

 

[Mitzi]

Del, thanks that was easy. One more question if I may.

My graph has three columns. the first column begins at 97 million, the
second drops down to 80 million, the third up to 87 million. My goal is to
have the first go from 0-97 million, then the second to show the drop from 97
to 80 m, but I want the arrows to be relative to the scale and float from
left to right, instead of above/below axis. Does this make sense?

 

[Andy Pope]

See Jon's pages on floating columns and possible waterfall charts.
http://peltiertech.com/Excel/Charts/FloatingColumns.html

Cheers
Andy

 

[Mitzi]

Andy, you are AWESOME!

This is working great.

See Jon's pages on floating columns and possible waterfall charts.
http://peltiertech.com/Excel/Charts/FloatingColumns.html

Cheers
Andy