Axis question - dates, intervals, spacing

[Isobel Boyes]

Hiya

I've got a Gantt type spreadsheet for plotting a project.

I've managed to make the axis show me one day at a time which is fab however the gap is massive. Is it possible to:
1. reduce the gap (this project runs from now to 30/11/2018)
2. rotate up the date so it takes less space

I'm also not sure on this why/what triggers the difference in fill colour - anyone any ideas?

Any help gratefully received as I've got to get this plan sorted and sent round to everyone!!

The formula shown by the way is what's set up for the bars.

 

[Isobel Boyes]

Oh, also, I wondered, is there a way of only displaying weekdays in the axis???

 

[vletm]

Many things are possible
and
Upload a sample Excel file.

 

[Isobel Boyes]

I cannot upload the file (it's huge, I can't share it externally from my workplace). I've attached a screenshot - there's very little to it so it's just the dialogue box min/max etc that I need to understand as the primary goal.

 

[vletm]

Upload a sample Excel file
with some sample data like You snapshot.

 

[Isobel Boyes]

What deliberately unhelpful and unnecessarily unpleasant responses. Wow. Probably be the first and last time I use this forum which is a shame because so far I've been inspired and enthusiastic after every time I've been on Chandoo, aside from this time of course.

 

[vletm]

Without a sample file,
it means a lot of text to explain how to do some or all of those and
it would be more better to show for You
how to do those with sample file.
Especially to test, that answers would work with Your case.
If no sample file, then someone else should do it
and most of time it would be different than Your file.

 

[r2c2]

@Isobel Boyes

Welcome to Chandoo.org forums and thanks for posting your question. When you create a bar / column / xy chart with one of the values as dates, then Excel treats these as numbers. Since a date like 24-July-2017 will become 42,940 as number (ie 42,940 days since Excel's date system began on 1 Jan 1900), the bars will tend to be unusually long (when started with 0 axis). You can fix this by using an artificial axis min value, like say date = 1-July-2017 or something. Also, the length of your bars depends on how wide your chart is.

You can change axis label formatting by using Axis format screen > number area. You should first un-link formatting to source cells.

Please find attached workbook showing how to make a gantt from your data. Also, refer to http://chandoo.org/wp/2008/05/20/gantt-in-60-seconds-churn-out-an-excel-project-plan-in-no-time/ to see an example.

Lastly, while it is not always possible to post a sample workbook, when asking a specific question about your charting / formula situation, making a quick file with dummy data and chart (or formulas) always goes a long way in getting right help.

Let me know if you need any help.