Datasheet

Chapter 1: Introducing Excel Charts

Part I

• Rotating 3-D charts: In previous versions, you could use your mouse to directly

manipulate the view of a 3-D chart. In Office 2007, changing the view requires the

use of a dialog box.

• Pattern fills: Pattern fills (such as diagonal lines) for chart elements are no longer

supported. However, if you open an older file that uses pattern fills, the patterns

will continue to display in Office 2007.

• Double-clicking to format: In the past, double-clicking a chart element (for exam-

ple, an axis) displayed a formatting dialog box appropriate for that element.

Double-clicking no longer displays a formatting dialog box. However, Office 2007

features a stay-on-top formatting dialog box that lets you modify the selected

chart element.

• Adding text to a chart: In previous versions, you could add arbitrary text to a

chart by selecting the chart and then typing the text (Excel created a text box

automatically). That action no longer works in Office 2007. You need to explicitly

insert a text box.

• PivotCharts retain their formatting: In previous versions, custom formatting

applied to a PivotChart was lost when the underlying PivotTable was refreshed.

This annoying bug has been fixed in Office 2007.

• Log scale enhancements: If you use a logarithmic scale for a chart’s value axis, you

are no longer limited to base-10 numbers. In addition, the minimum and maximum

scale values for a log chart are no longer constrained to powers of 10.

• Chart templates: Chart templates are much easier to create and apply in Office

2007. However, they still suffer from some limitations.

• No built-in custom chart types: Previous versions of Excel included several built-in

custom chart types (including several combination charts). These custom chart

types are no longer available.

• Charts and dialog sheets: In Excel 2007, you can no longer add a chart to a dialog

sheet. (Dialog sheets are fairly obsolete, anyway.)

• Document themes: Office 2007 supports document themes. A theme can be

applied to a document to change its overall look by using different fonts, colors,

and graphic effects. Applying a document theme changes the appearance of the

charts.

• Object model changes: If you’re a VBA programmer, you’ll also discover some new

twists in the charting object model.

Noticeably absent from this list are any new chart types. Unfortunately, Microsoft

hasn’t added any new chart types in Office 2007. Maybe in the next release . . .

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