Simple timeline chart

J

John Dough

I thought this would be simple and obvious -- what am I missing?

Have 2 columns -- col A is the date; col B is the value

Want to make a line chart that plots the values over time.

When I use the chart wizard I can only get a chart that puts in default date
values (starting with 1/1/00). I cannot find a way to get the data from my
date column into the chart. The help file is no help. I am flabbergasted
that something which should be so simple is stumping me!
 
B

Bob Greenblatt

I thought this would be simple and obvious -- what am I missing?

Have 2 columns -- col A is the date; col B is the value

Want to make a line chart that plots the values over time.

When I use the chart wizard I can only get a chart that puts in default date
values (starting with 1/1/00). I cannot find a way to get the data from my
date column into the chart. The help file is no help. I am flabbergasted
that something which should be so simple is stumping me!
It works fine for me. Are you sure the values in column a are real excel
dates and not text values. I just put some dates in column A, random values
in B. Highlighted the range, clicked on chart wizard, selected the first
line chat and clicked finish. Works fine.
 
J

John Dough

I *thought* they were dates because I just entered the first one, dragged
down, and it filled in sequentially in mm/dd/yy format. But I guess I was
assuming too much. Went back and formatted the column as date valued. Works
fine now. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to have some sort of reminder for stuff
like this in the help file.
 
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