Specifying an Axis Scale in Microsoft Graph

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 20, 2021)
This tip applies to Word 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003

Each graph you create includes axes. Depending on your graph type, it can have 0, 2, or 3 axes. Each axis has a scale, which determines how the information along that axis is graphed. By default, Microsoft Graph determines this scale automatically based on the data you are graphing. You can, however, override the default and specify a scale. What you see when you do this depends on which axis you are scaling. For instance, if you are scaling the X axis, you can specify how the data categories graphed along the axis relate to the Y axis. These steps allow you to scale the X axis:

Select the X axis with the mouse.
Choose Selected Axis from the Format menu. Microsoft Graph displays the Format Axis dialog box.
Make sure the Scale tab is selected. (See Figure 1.)

Figure 1. The Scale tab of the Format Axis dialog box

Modify the scale settings as desired.
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 (710) 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

Adding Drop Shadows

Want your shapes to really "pop" off the page? Add a drop shadow to them, as described in this tip.

Discover More

Ignoring the Spelling of Proper Nouns

Proper nouns (such as the names of people) are routinely marked as incorrect by Word's spell checker. If you are tired of ...

Discover More

Excel Serious Sorting

Sorting data means that you organize it in whatever order you desire. Excel's sorting feature can be used in a variety of ...

Discover More

Do More in Less Time! Are you ready to harness the full power of Word 2013 to create professional documents? In this comprehensive guide you'll learn the skills and techniques for efficiently building the documents you need for your professional and your personal life. Check out Word 2013 In Depth today!

More WordTips (menu)

Changing the Orientation of Your Chart

Microsoft Graph is a great way to add simple charts to your documents. Once you've got a graph added, you might want to ...

Discover More

Selecting a Chart Pattern

If you don't have Excel installed on your system, Microsoft Graph is a handy way to create simple charts for your ...

Discover More

Selecting Fonts for a Chart

Microsoft Chart uses text to label items in a chart. Here's how to change the font used for that text.

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 - 7?

2018-12-19 06:09:11

Steve

For majority of graphs that do not aplay to linear scale and have zero included (log scale can not use 0, other settings are not possible within Excel). Graphing in Excel is useless ! And that aplays to almost all science, math and others use of for that purpose ! So why enforcing Office and Excel when knowing that ?

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.