resizing plots without changing text size

  • Thread starter Thread starter Martin Glodde
  • Start date Start date
M

Martin Glodde

We are using Excel to generate scientific xy plots. When I resize the
surrounding frame of such a plot, generated by the Chart Wizard, the
text size changes. How can I prevent this? How can I resize a xy chart
without changing the font size?

Also, is there a nice trick to make several plots exactly the same? I
have the impression that each time I generate a plot, Excel chooses
randomly how it should exactly look.

Thank you very much for every hint!

Martin
 
Double-click the text item that resizes inappropriately. In the
resulting dialog box, select the Font tab. Uncheck the 'Autosize
checkbox.

AFAIK, XL keeps the same size for all charts it creates. But, in any
case, I find it fastest to resize the charts by moving one on top of
the other and resizing the one on top so that it exactly matches the
dimensions of the one below.

--
Regards,

Tushar Mehta, MS MVP -- Excel
www.tushar-mehta.com
Excel, PowerPoint, and VBA add-ins, tutorials
Custom MS Office productivity solutions
 
Here's a bit more about chart font sizes. I have disabled the
autoscaling, because it never comes out the way I like.

http://www.geocities.com/jonpeltier/Excel/Charts/FixFonts.html

Embedded charts generated by Excel's chart wizard are always drawn:
- in the lower right pane of the active window if panes are frozen
- in the quadrant where the data resides if the window is split
- in the active window if there are no splits/frozen panes

In general, the chart is centered in the window/pane where it is drawn,
about half the width and half the height of the window/pane (plus or
minus a couple points). If the pane is smaller than a certain size,
Excel will no longer ratio the chart to the size of the pane

The chart's plot area is the same size for the same size chart. But
variation in the font size of the axis labels, as well as in the length
of these labels, cause the inside area of the plot area to shrink more
or less, as the margin containing the axis labels varies in size.
There's probably some systematic approach, but I often wish they'd hold
the inside area fixed, and let the outside float. The inside area
dimensions are read only, so you have to indirectly resize them by
resizing the outer dimensions, and usually you must repeat a couple
times to get the error within a pixel.

I hold down Alt while moving and sizing charts. This way, the edges of
the charts stick to the cell gridlines, and it's easy to make different
charts 8 columns by 18 or 20 rows every time. The plot inside
dimensions always are different, though.

I used to have a macro I'd run on a new chart that made everything the
same, but I've grown more tolerant of diversity. When push comes to
shove, I roll out a special macro I made myself that copies dimensions
from one chart and applies them to another.

- Jon
 
I used to have a macro I'd run on a new chart that made everything the
same, but I've grown more tolerant of diversity. When push comes to
shove, I roll out a special macro I made myself that copies dimensions
from one chart and applies them to another.
Click to expand...
Yep. wrote a macro-based solution to enforce a 'standard' back in the
XL5 days. Quickly got tired of it. And, yes, a macro, tailored to the
task at hand, has worked just A-OK.

--
Regards,

Tushar Mehta
MS MVP Excel 2000-2004
www.tushar-mehta.com
Excel, PowerPoint, and VBA tutorials and add-ins
Custom Productivity Solutions leveraging MS Office
 
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