Gridlines Above Bar or Column Charts

[techieview]

Hi Chandoo,


I am a avid follower of Tufte and now your site.

I am planning to increase data ink for my column chart in such a manner that my gridlines appear before column so that i can highlight at regular interval.


I have already tried creating a different data series, however is there any easy solution to this.

 

[Hui]

Techreview


Firstly, welcome to the Chandoo.org Forums


There is no native way to put grid lines in front of Chart elements

There are two workarounds though which allow this effect to be reproduced


1. Add some new data series and turn them into horizontal lines.


2. Setup the Chart as you want it, Snap Using Alt Drag of Corners to background cells

Copy the entire chart,

Paste it in front of the existing chart, snapping it to the same cells using Alt Drag

Change the Fill of the Chart Area, Lines, Bars etc to None, but not the gridlines


Enjoy

 

[prasaddn]

Hi Techreview,


I agree with Hui.


btw, Have you explored all the options of format gridlines like glow and soft edges settings / shadow settings? Although the gridlines do not come infront of chart elements, but can set you required attention/highlights

 

[techieview]

Thanks Hui and Prasaddn for the reply.


Prasaddn, I have already tried using all the formats in the chart as well gridlines, however there is native solution for this issue, like mentioned by Hui.


Hui, as i had earlier mentioned, tried adding new data series, which works for sure, also tried your 2nd solution, which again worked for me..


I just wanted to know, if there was some native solution within Excel....


Thank Hui, for the warm welcome in the community.