Setting axis label interval unit

Question

I have a large set of data recorded in steps of one second, stretching to approximately 4 hours. For various reasons I want to display the data on a line chart. Obviously it is impractical to do this in steps of one second and, therefore, I want to use intervals of 10 minutes. Setting the tick interval to 600 gives you a tick every 10 minutes of the record. However, trying to enter a label interval unit of 600 for does not work, since you are required to enter a whole number between 1 and 255. If you specify 200 a label is placed a 10 minute intervals but a further two appear in between each 10 minute interval. I've tried with no avail everything I could think of, and the on/off -line 'Help' really is useless to an experienced user. I suspect that the number 255 probably relates to the maximum number of series available for a chart, but what is the relevance to the category axis? Any help?

Answer 1

Excel 2010 with free PowerPivot Add-In

Compatible with Office 2013 Pro Plus.

With 10 minute interval in Calendar Table.

http://www.mediafire.com/view/tannogt3dzj7nhj/08_25_14.xlsx

Answer 2

Yes, indeed! Thanks!

Answer 3

It appears you're caught between a rock and a hard place. I don't think you can get around the limit of 255 with a line chart, and the automatic scaling of a scatter chart doesn't satisfy your needs.

Answer 4

Hallo Hans - Thanks for suggestion! Yes, I usually use a scatter chart to display the recorded data (noise levels) and it works fine. However, using the scatter chart you have to fix the minimum and maximum values of the axis, since letting Excel do it automatically often compresses the graphs thereby wasting unnecessary space for display on the axis. When you define your data set as a table and set the filter to display a desired time line it leaves the axis minimum and maximum as defined and the selected data remains on the same scale. The line graph has the advantage of flexible axis ends and, therefore, lets you zoom in on the desired section of the time line. Perhaps I've got it wrong somewhere and while writing this I realise that I probably should have a closer look at pivot tables and charts, although the facility obviously is intended for the financial crowd, which tends to frustrate me endlessly!

Regards

François Malherbe

Answer 5

You could change the chart type to an XY Scatter chart, and set the Major Unit of the X-axis to 0.0069444444444444 (= 10/1440 of a day = 10 minutes)