When using Excel in a web browsers, X & Y coordinates can't be plotted

Question

I originally created a spreadsheet using a desktop version of Excel plotting this data into a standard scatterplot.

X	Y
3.597257102	4.366111066
3.636424258	3.453592441
3	4
3	4
3.525800487	4.227891571
3.595789032	3.459242899
3.474923912	4.019143037

There was no issue until I moved it online. The dynamically linked table was converted into an image. I tried relinking the data to a new scatterplot, but I can only get it to register them as two instances of a set (instead of one X,Y coordinate pair). 

Because this is the online version, I also cannot make multiple selections or access the Select Data screen like I do in the desktop version.

Is there a way to tell the online version to treat these as coordinate pairs and not individual data points?

PS: currently, I'm using Chrome, but I receive the same error when I try Safari.

Answer 1

Hi BenCharts,

Thanks for posting in the forum.

From your post I understand that you have created a scatter chart in Excel app and when you select the chart, it shows the linked data and it also shows x-y co-ordinates when any data point is selected, as shown in the image below.

Now when the same workbook in opened in Excel for the web and when you click the chart to select, it does not highlight the linked data and data points cannot be selected. The chart appears as an image (please refer the screenshot below). Please correct me if I misunderstood the case.  

There are some differences between using a workbook in the browser and in Excel app. Some features may work differently than the desktop app.

Based on my test, not just scatter chart but every other chart such as Bar, Line, Pie etc. shows the similar behavior, none of them shows linked data when chart is selected. Also, the data points can’t be selected. I believe this is one of the differences in Excel for the web and desktop app. I am afraid this behavior in Excel for the web can’t be changed, this seems to be a by default behavior. If you want to check the linked data in Excel for the web, select the chart which will bring the Chart menu on the ribbon and then click Select Data.

In addition, although selecting chart will not highlight the linked data but the chart will update if any existing value is updated in the data.

We appreciate your understanding.

With sincerest regards,

Neha