Formatting Axis Patterns

Most people who create charts with Excel don't know that you can change just about everything that controls how the chart appears. One of the things you can easily change is the pattern used to denote a chart's axis. By default Excel normally uses a solid line for an axis. If you want to change the pattern used by Excel, follow these steps if you are using Excel 2007 or Excel 2010:

1. Right-click on the axis whose pattern you want to change. Excel displays a Context menu for the axis.
2. Choose Format Axis from the Context menu. (If there is no Format Axis choice, then you did not right-click on an axis in step 1.) Excel displays the Format Axis dialog box. (See Figure 1.)



Figure 1. The Format Axis dialog box.

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3. Use the Fill selection to specify how the axis should be filled (including its pattern, if selected).
4. Use the Line Style selection to specify how the axis line should look.
5. Use the Line Color selection to select a color for the axis.
6. Click on OK.

If you are using Excel 2013 then the steps are slightly different:

1. Right-click on the axis whose pattern you want to change. Excel displays a Context menu for the axis.
2. Choose Format Axis from the Context menu. (If there is no Format Axis choice, then you did not right-click on an axis in step 1.) Excel displays the Format Axis task pane at the right side of the program window.
3. Click the Fill & Line icon—it looks like a paint bucket. (See Figure 2.)



Figure 2. The Format Axis task pane.

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4. Expand the Fill options to specify how the axis should be filled (including its pattern, if selected).
5. Expand the Line options to specify how the axis line should look.
6. Close the task pane when done.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (6134) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, and 2013. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Formatting Axis Patterns.