Bubble Charts Overlap

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tan
  • Start date Start date
T

Tan

I'm in the process of plotting bubble charts in Microsoft
Excel. The problem comes when the bubbles (of varying
sizes) start to overlap with one another if they intersect
at similar X and Y coordinates, or in some cases, some
bubbles are bigger in size overlap those that are smaller.

Is there a way to work around this? (other than adjusting
the x and y coordinates which is not possible)
 
Tan,

Maybe you could create a copy of your x,y,size data and sort it on the
bubble size (descending sort).
At least parts of the bubbles would appear when overlapped. Although
with points having identical x,y,size values one is always going to be
obscured by the other.

Brainwave whilst writing this!

You could use transparent bubbles. :)
But transparency fills are not supported. :(

A work around is to use a custom marker. Use Autoshapes to create a
circle on a worksheet. This can have transparent fills, so format as
required. Now select and copy shape, CTRL+C will do.
In the chart select the data series and paste, CTRL+V, to apply
autoshape to markers.

If you need an example check out Jon's page.
(http://peltiertech.com/Excel/ChartsHowTo/CustomMarkers.html)

I'm in the process of plotting bubble charts in Microsoft
Excel. The problem comes when the bubbles (of varying
sizes) start to overlap with one another if they intersect
at similar X and Y coordinates, or in some cases, some
bubbles are bigger in size overlap those that are smaller.

Is there a way to work around this? (other than adjusting
the x and y coordinates which is not possible)
Click to expand...

--

Cheers
Andy

http://www.andypope.info
 
If the data are such that the bubbles overlap, what would you expect as
a 'solution?'

Also, in the chart, double-click on the bubble series, then in the
resulting Format Data Series dialog box, select the Options tab. See
if the 'Size represents area/width of bubbles' helps.

--
Regards,

Tushar Mehta, MS MVP -- Excel
www.tushar-mehta.com
Excel, PowerPoint, and VBA add-ins, tutorials
Custom MS Office productivity solutions
 
Oh, one more item.

In the chart, double-click the bubble series, then, in the resulting
dialog box, select the Options tab. In there, experiment with 'Scale
bubble to x% of default.'

--
Regards,

Tushar Mehta, MS MVP -- Excel
www.tushar-mehta.com
Excel, PowerPoint, and VBA add-ins, tutorials
Custom MS Office productivity solutions
 
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