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Setting axis tick mark and label options


    You can add tick marks to show units of measurement in a graph, and you can add information to labels including units of measurement such as "$."

    Tick marks are the lines placed perpendicular to the axes to show the units of measurement. They can be used either horizontally or vertically or both to set categories apart in a line graph, for example, or to separate categories in a column or scatter graph.

    You may need to change axis attributes such as tick marks or labels when a single graph contains more than one graph type. (See Combining different graph types.)

To set tick mark and label options:

  1. Choose an axis from pop-up menu in the top left of the Graph Type dialog box:
    • Value Axis to set options for the axis that displays the graph's unit of measurement. The y axis is the value axis for column, stacked column, line, and area graphs. The x axis is the value axis for bar and stacked column graphs.

    Note: The Value Axis option is not available when a graph is set to display value axes on both sides. (See Specifying the value axis position.)

    • Left Axis, Right Axis, Bottom Axis, or Top Axis to set options for a specific axis when a graph is set to display value axes on both sides.
    • Category Axis to set options for the axis that defines the graph's categories. The x axis is the category axis for column, stacked column, line, and area graphs. The y axis is the category axis for bar and stacked column graphs. The Category Axis option is not available for scatter, pie, and radar graphs.
  2. For value axes, left axes, right axes, bottom axes, or top axes, select Override Calculated Values to manually calculate the placement of tick marks. Either accept the values set when you created the graph or enter a minimum value, a maximum value, and the number of divisions between labels.
  3. Choose a tick mark length from the Length pop-up menu.
  4. Specify how many tick marks to draw in the Draw Tick Marks Per Division text box. To prevent numbers from appearing on an axis, enter 0.
  5. For category axes, select Draw Tick Marks Between Labels to draw tick marks on either side of the labels or columns, or deselect the option to center tick marks over the labels or columns.
  6. For value axes, left axes, right axes, bottom axes, or top axes, enter characters in the Prefix or Suffix text box to add more information before (Prefix) or after (Suffix) values, such as a dollar sign before a number, or the word units, or a percent sign after the values.
  7. Click OK.
  8. Graph with vertical tick lines
    Graph with vertical tick lines