excel charts to ppt: x-axis creep

[smoody]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Processor: Intel The x-axis of large data-point line charts 'migrates' when copied to PPT; that is, the starting date in the x-axis creeps up from, say, 1973 to 1977 in charts copied to PPT. Any remedy for this?

 

[Bob Greenblatt]

Version: 2008 Operating System: Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard) Processor: Intel
The x-axis of large data-point line charts 'migrates' when copied to PPT; that
is, the starting date in the x-axis creeps up from, say, 1973 to 1977 in
charts copied to PPT. Any remedy for this?

Although I have not verified this, the 4 year difference is probably due to
Excel¹s date base. Go to Preferences-Calculation and either check or uncheck
the Use 1904 date format. This may require that all the dates in the
workbook be changed to the correct values. I am not sure if Power Point has
a similar date option. If so, try changing that first.

 

[smoody]

Bob, The difference in base date between Mac and Microsoft is the problem. The fix you recommended allows one to toggle between the two systems in Excel, changing the x-axis data by the four-year difference. Unfortunately, PPT doesn't offer the same feature or, at least, I haven't been able to find the switch. I fixed the problem with the chart by de-linking the x-axis scale from the original and resetting the min and max values to those that should be displayed. It's not a real fix, of course, but it serves my purposes. So I'd say the problem is a bug that needs fixing when you get around to it. Thanks for directing me to the fix. Steve