"Chart Data Range" gets blanked out in "Select data" ; data range also not highlighted when whole graph is selected

Question

I need to understand in what situations the "Chart Data Range" gets blanked out in the "select data source" of an existing graph with data on same sheet. I need to check the data range at multiple review times . As a work around, I selected the whole graph too to see the data range highlighted but this doesn't work either: data is on the same sheet (Have seen this problem many times).

Answer 1

Hi

I'm AnnaThomas and I'd be happy to help you with your question. In this Forum, we are Microsoft consumers just like yourself.

Here are a few possibilities:

The chart is a picture: If the chart has been copied and pasted as a picture onto the same sheet, the "Chart Data Range" option will be disabled.

The chart is linked to an external data source: If the chart is linked to data in another workbook, the "Chart Data Range" option will be disabled.

The chart is a combination chart: If the chart is a combination of multiple chart types, the "Chart Data Range" option will be disabled.

The chart is a PivotChart: If the chart is created from a PivotTable, the "Chart Data Range" option will be disabled.

I hope this helps ;-), let me know if this is contrary to what you need, I would still be helpful to answer more of your questions.

Best Regards,

AnnaThomas

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Answer 2

thanks Anna for your response.

The data is a very small set of few rows and columns on the same sheet as the chart. The data is not a "Table" and the chart is not a picture or pivot chart , it is just a simple line graph. Refer below picture.

The only thing is that I did add a row to the chart data after creating the chart.

Answer 3

To fix this, you can try recreating the chart by selecting the entire data range, including the new row, before creating the chart. Alternatively, you can try editing the data range directly in the "Chart Data Range" field of the "Select Data Source" dialog box by typing in the new range or selecting it using the mouse.

Answer 4

It does work now when I have removed the "year" "category" which was also in the series, although "Unchecked". Didn't quite understand why though.

Any other reasons to be aware of, please do let me know.

Answer 5

It's possible that the "year" and "category" fields were included in the series data of the chart but were not visible on the chart itself. This could have caused the "Chart Data Range" option to be disabled because the chart was still referencing those fields even though they were unchecked and not visible.

To prevent this issue from happening in the future, make sure to only include the data that you want to be visible on the chart in the series data. Any additional fields that are not meant to be visible on the chart should be removed from the series data or unchecked from the "Select Data Source" dialog box.