HEEEELLP!!! Excel graphs

[Bam]

I'm trying to generate graphs that have multiple events that occur. Every
quarter I track "falls, visitor concerns, med errors, OSHA violations, etc...
there are actually 17 different catagories. But when I create graphs, you
can't tell all of them apart because the coloring is so close. Is there some
kind of way I could format the colums or the legend without going through
each individual one??

Any kind of help would be appreciated

 

[Jon Peltier]

You can edit default chart colors: Go to the Tools menu, select Options, and
click on the Color tab. The bottom two rows of the palette are the default
colors for chart lines and fills. This dialog allows you to modify these
colors. If you change colors, they will apply to the workbook in which you
changed them. You can also copy color palettes from one workbook to another.

I wonder if your chart can be clarified using a different approach. Do you
have 17 series or 17 categories (x-axis labels)? How do the series and
categories interact? I would think that a better approach would involve
panel charts, with one panel per category of mishap. Something like the
bottom two examples here:

http://processtrends.com/toc_panel_charts.htm

- Jon

 

[Amy]

You could change the colours on just one graph. Then next quarter when you
make the next graph, just copy and paste the existing one, right-click and
change the source data so it reflects your new data. Then the colours should
be what you want.

Another way is to set up a custom chart type with the colours you want, and
use that for future graphs.

I don't know if you can automatically change all of the graphs you have
already done, but I am not an expert so maybe someone else can help.