Plot area of embedded charts unexplainably shrinks in Excel 2003 S

[Rudy]

I am working on a large spreadsheet full of numerical data. It contains
several dozen bar and line graphs embedded across several worksheets. I have
a decent understanding of Excel and Excel graphs but do not use VBA.

The problem I have with Excel is that it sometimes – and unpredictably –
(vertically) shrinks the plot areas of the embedded graphs. This can happen
between opening the document and printing it. Other times, the plot area
would shrink if I click on the plot area with my mouse, and then click off on
to a cell in the same worksheet. The chart area remains the same size, but
the plot area gets smaller and smaller until I can barely see it. I doubt
that this is due to actions related to resizing columns because I have
checked the options under Format Chart Arearoperties:Move and Size with
Cells. I have also turned off the Format Axis:Font:Autoscale option.

Is there any way that I can make these Excel charts stay *completely
static*? I am tired of having to manually resize the plot area every time
this “bug†happens. I would like to avoid using VBA, but am willing to
decide otherwise if necessary. This problem has been plaguing me for weeks
so your help would be much appreciated.

Thanks!
Rudy