How do I change the default color scheme in Excel 365 graphs to completely black?

Question

I'm getting very irritated with Excel, especially when I try to make a graph. My graph appears as all different colors by default, and I have to manually change each point series, axis, title, etc. to black manually. And when I have 5 or more graphs it can take me up to half an hour just to make everything black..

As a chemist I don't have any use for the pretty colors of Excel. It's distracting and goes against proper formatting. If I tried publishing a multi-colored graph I would be the laughing stock of the chemistry department.

I managed to change the color scheme to "monochromatic" but that just makes everything black and gray; I still have to manually change all of the grays to black so it takes me just as long to edit my graphs.

I just want all of my lines, points and text to be pure black.. I never thought that this would actually be an issue in a spreadsheet program but apparently it is.

Any suggestions?

Thanks.

Answer 1

Check if this helps resolve the issue. 

http://www.officetooltips.com/excel/tips/how_to_change_the_default_colors_that_excel_uses_for_chart_series.html

You may also refer the link for more information on the same. 

http://blogs.office.com/2012/11/15/chart-styles-in-the-new-microsoft-office/

Answer 2

(This works in Office 2010.  I do not have 365 so I don't know if it is the same)

Create a graph with exactly the attributes you want all graphs of that type to have.  Include enough data series to cover the maximum number of series you would reasonably expect to have.  Then when you have it just the way you want it, go to the Design tab under Chart Tools in the Ribbon, click on "Save as Template" and give your template a name.  Now create a new chart and apply that template by right-clicking on the chart and selecting "Change Chart Type".  Click on the "Templates" folder and select the template you created.

Note that anything you specifically set in the template will be set for the new chart.  For example, if you set specific axis minimum and maximum limits, the new chart will have those limits.  Same goes for formatting items.

Hope this helps,

Eric