Microsoft Office Q&A: Ask anything (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc.)

If this is actually what you were looking for...
http://www.datafilehost.com/d/ad9de56b, then here is how it turns out:

First, highlight all the numbers in Table "A"—just make sure you skip the years and those Roman numerals—and turn them into a line chart (I assume you already know how to do that part);
Then, right-click anywhere on the chart area and open up . This is where you’ll input the data for both Tables A and B. Just hit the "Add" button, type "=A" in the first field, and then manually select the rows from that first table one by one (again, leave out the years and the Roman numerals). You’ll need to repeat this exact process for the second table too (though I gather you're already familiar with that step).
Once you've finished entering everything, you'll see a bunch of numbers like 1, 2, ... appearing along the
. Now, go ahead and right-click the chart again and head back into . Pay close attention here:
Look over to the right side where those numbers 1, 2, ... are listed vertically and click . When you hit , an window will pop up. In that box, just select the Roman numerals from your first table—for instance, selecting the range C2:N2 in your specific sheet. There. That should do the trick.
p.s. If you want to clean things up, you can use the "Remove" button in the menu to get rid of , , etc., so that only Series A and B are left standing.

It’s not working—I did exactly what I did the first time. I go to select data, then EDIT the vertical numbers, open the card, and pick Roman numerals. Now they change, but they're still all squished together. So, I go back to select data, then EDIT—now the Roman numerals are showing, but when I scroll through them, there’s this empty space after XII that I can scroll through, ending with three little dots (...). I checked the cells I highlighted, and only the ones with the Roman numerals are actually selected. There's no way to delete that blank space or do anything about it.

You still haven't actually answered my question about whether the chart is supposed to look exactly like the one I attached. If that's the case, then just scrap your version entirely and start over from scratch following my specific instructions. Honestly, I was just as much of a novice when I first tackled this as you are right now.

The chart is supposed to look like this—but you haven't pulled in all the data. I followed your instructions to a T, but I just keep getting the same result

Look, until someone comes along with a more elegant way to handle this, if you're in a massive rush, you can just manually force those Roman numerals under the X-axis by doing this: (first, go ahead and right-click those three Roman numerals you currently have and just delete them)
Click once on the chart itself, then head up to the menu bar and grab the Layout tab. From there, look for Axis Titles, click the little dropdown arrow next to Primary Horizontal Axis Title, and choose Title Below Axis. You'll see a placeholder appearing down below the X-axis that looks like Axis Title. Just right-click that bit, select EDIT text, and type in your Roman numerals manually. I’d suggest leaving about six spaces between each number just to keep things readable.

wiredwolf34 said:the X-axis isn't showing the full range of data (everything's just crammed on the left side)

Duh. Of course everything's bunched up if you've got Roman numerals for months showing up for just one year, but you selected rows covering multiple years.
Something's not adding up with what you're asking for. How exactly are you planning to squeeze all that data from two different tables onto a single chart?

I reckon you could show two tables for a single year, making the line track the months for both A and B

Or just plot all the years on one chart for a single table (check the attachment))

I've got these two tables I need to combine into a single chart—basically trying to see how they stack up against each other. If there isn't a way to do that, I might just end up typing everything out manually like Walter Jackson48 suggested. It looks fine, I guess.

wiredwolf34 said:I have these two specific tables I need to show on a single chart so you can actually see how they compare against each other. If there isn't a way to do it that way, I guess I'll just end up typing everything out by hand like Walter Jackson48 suggested. Okay, looks good.

Wait, why wouldn't you be able to do that? You could technically pull a line chart for every single year, but honestly, that would look like a total mess. If you just pull one year's worth of data from Table A and Table B, you get two lines—exactly like the example my colleagues sent over. Can you manage that?
Just head over to Insert, pick a line chart, and then when you're selecting your data, here's the trick: hold down the Ctrl key while you highlight the data for that specific year in both Table A and Table B. Let go of Ctrl and you're all set. Then, for the Horizontal Axis Label, just click EDIT and pick the header from one of your tables.

It’s not hard to grab one chart per year—I get that and I can handle it—but every single year needs to be displayed using one single graph, and that’s where things start getting messy

wiredwolf34 said:Look, I don't have any trouble making a single chart for every year—I can handle that easily. But the issue is that all the years need to be displayed using just one single chart, and that’s where things get tricky.

Really?! So what’s the alternative here—a monthly column sum or maybe a total for all years combined? Just set up a Total row in both Table A and Table B, then just plot that on the graph. 🤷

I can't just lump them all together—the chart needs to show how the data fluctuates month by month across all the specified years

Just take that chart you generated and stretch it out—I mean, really pull it wide so you can actually see what’s happening. You'll notice all twelve Roman numerals cluttering up the X-axis. It’s exactly what Kyle Johnson2 was getting at earlier: you've essentially fed the system twelve values multiple times over. If you toggle the data labels on the chart, the mess becomes even more obvious. Look, my previous suggestion about typing in those Roman numerals manually? That was just one way to input them, but let's be honest, it isn't going to give you an accurate result.

Honestly, I’d almost say you’re trying to solve an impossible puzzle if you keep going this way. It doesn't make sense. You should be comparing yearly performance within a single twelve-month window, not stretching it across twenty-four months by smashing two separate years into one giant table. Here is how I tackled it:

http://www.datafilehost.com/d/30c44580

Now, try comparing the curve behavior for, say, 2001. against the year 2001a and so on. If you want to get fancy, you can always insert a helper column right before your year column to add extra identifiers or labels.

Best regards,

Alright, thanks a lot for all the help and effort, everyone. I think I'll just put together both versions—one manually typed out by axis and another comparing each year—and then see which one actually works better. Best,

wiredwolf34 said:Alright, let's see which one actually works. Cheers!

Give it another shot. Try this. How to make a Pivot Chart from multiple datasets. Just make sure you go with the other option—the Pivot Chart.
Mess around with the settings for a bit and do some digging while you're at it. YouTubeI think the issue is you're stuck on wanting a line chart, but honestly, a bar chart might do the job just fine. Check this out. Video tutorial.It pulls data from several different sheets, so you could totally apply that to what you're dealing with. It’d let you pull both the years and those A and B labels right onto the X axis.

Hey there!

Does anyone know—please tell me if you do—how I can set Excel to make number cells default to the 1,000.00 format? You know, with commas for thousands and two decimal places? Every single time I open a file, I have to manually format everything. And since I'm constantly dealing with US Dollars, I'm just wasting precious time here... and we all know time is money, right? 🙂

Quick question for Word too:
I haven't quite figured this one out yet—how do you get rid of this weirdness? When I copy stuff from the internet, the entire background of the text comes with it in some random color. The text itself looks fine, but that annoying colored background stays stuck to the whole thing, and I can't find any way to strip it away! How do I kill that color?

Thanks a million! 🙂

Go to the Control Panel, then head over to Regional and Language Options, and finally hit Customize...

Walter Jackson48 said:Go to the Control Panel, then hit Regional and Language Options, and then click Customize...

But nothing's changing! It still says two decimal places and uses a comma for thousands!

Until someone comes up with a more elegant way to handle this mess, maybe this little workaround will stop the headache:
open up an Excel sheet and just click that little arrow button sitting right to the left of column A—you know, the one above row 1—to select the entire Sheet. Once everything is highlighted, pick whatever number format you actually want. That way, every single number you type in follows that rule automatically. Now, I suppose the real nuisance starts if you suddenly decide you need some cells to show whole numbers instead...

driftingpilot8 said:How do you set Excel to default all number cells to the 1,000.00 format? I need commas for thousands and two decimal places every single time.

Open a blank Workbook.
2. Select it. All cells.
Right-click and hit Format Cells. Set it up. Formatting numbers. Just use a decimal point and a thousands separator. You can even toss in a US Dollar ($) sign if you feel like it.
Just Save Workbook under a specific name, but set it as a Template.
Next time you’re messing around with cash values, just pull up that Template. You can even set a shortcut key on your desktop to make it faster.
6. Every single time you punch in a number, it’ll snap right into the format you want. Boom. Done.

driftingpilot8 said:Still haven't figured out what that thing is or how it even moves.

No point in preaching to the choir here. We already know what's up. Just Google it. Pick one from this list:

Just grab the text, hit Home > Paragraph > Shading, and pick "No Color." Done.
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Open Word 2007. Hit File, then Word Options. Go to Advanced, find that Cut, Copy, and Paste section, and just flip the 'Pasting from other programs' setting to 'Keep Text Only.' Simple as that.
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If you're using Word 2007, just hit the Office button, go into Word Options, then Advanced. Look for the Cut, Copy, and Paste section, find the dropdown for 'Pasting from other programs,' and set it to 'Keep Text Only.' Done.
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Just hit that "Clear All Formatting" button on the Home tab. Easy peasy. Enjoy!
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Just dump that text into a text editor—like Notepad. It’ll strip out all those weird formatting glitches and messy code instantly.
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Just right-click before you paste and hit "Paste as Plain Text." That should fix it.

Kyle Johnson2 said:Honestly, why reinvent the wheel when the answer is already out there? Just give it a quick search online! Here's a few ways you could handle it:

You can strip that away by highlighting the text and hitting Home => Paragraph => Shading: No Color.
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If you're using Word 2010, just head over to File, then Options, then Advanced. Look under the Cut, Copy, Paste section, hit that dropdown for 'Pasting from other programs,' and pick 'Keep Text Only.'
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For those on Word 2007, click the Office button, go to Word Options, then Advanced. Under Cut, Copy, Paste, find the dropdown for 'Pasting from other programs' and set it to 'Keep Text Only.'
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You can also just smash that "Clear All Formatting" button right on the Home Tab. Easy peasy!
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Try this: grab your text and dump it into a basic text editor like Notepad. It'll scrub away all that weird formatting and hidden code instantly!
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Before you paste, just right-click and choose 'Paste Text Only.' That usually does the trick!

Oh, brilliant! So you really think my issue is just because I didn't "Google it" enough? Seriously? If everyone knew these answers already, this whole thread wouldn't even exist, and you wouldn't have anything to do here either!
1. Of course that isn't the case!
2. I'm using the American version.
Thanks for the "expert" advice, genius!

As for the default number formatting—or the worksheet itself—it’s way easier to just select the sheet and format the numbers directly, though honestly, that's what I've been doing all along anyway.