Controlling Chart Gridlines

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated June 14, 2014)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Microsoft Graph is a simple graphing program provided with Word. It includes the ability to view your graph data in both spreadsheet and graph formats. The graphs you create can include gridlines, if desired. Gridlines are used in a chart to help the reader better understand the data being presented. This is particularly true with three-dimensional presentation, where it can be harder to see how chart elements precisely relate to each other. You can control the display and appearance of gridlines in this way:

Select Chart Options from the Chart menu. Microsoft Graph displays the Chart Options dialog box.
Make sure the Gridlines tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Gridlines tab of the Chart Options dialog box.

Use the check boxes to select which gridlines are hidden or displayed. You can see the effects of your choices in the sample displayed in the dialog box.
Click on OK.

WordTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Word training. (Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software in the world.) This tip (702) applies to Microsoft Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. Learn more about Allen...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Underlining Tabs In Numbered Lists

When Word creates an automatically numbered list, it removes some of your formatting flexibility. One thing you can't ...

Discover More

Changing the Default Font

It makes sense that when Excel creates a blank workbook, it must figure out which font to use for that workbook. ...

Discover More

Filtering Columns

The filtering tools provided in Excel make it easy to filter a data list so that only certain rows are displayed. What if ...

Discover More

Create Custom Apps with VBA! Discover how to extend the capabilities of Office 2013 (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, and Access) with VBA programming, using it for writing macros, automating Office applications, and creating custom applications. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2013 today!

More WordTips (menu)

Importing Excel Information Into Chart

Microsoft Graph is great for displaying charts in a document, without the need to actually use Excel. However, your data ...

Discover More

Selecting a Custom Chart

Microsoft Graph allows you to easily create charts from numeric data, without the need to use Excel. Here's how to use ...

Discover More

Adding Titles to a Chart

Adding titles to either an axis or the chart as a whole can make your data easier to understand. Here's how to add this ...

Discover More

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in WordTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

Notify me about new comments ONLY FOR THIS TIP

Notify me about new comments ANYWHERE ON THIS SITE

Hide my email address

What is 7 + 9?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Word that uses the menu interface (Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, or Word 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Word, visit our WordTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.