Is there any workaround for this BUG in charting? Legend totally screwed up.

Question

I created a chart. It has one series, that series has a name (as shown in the dialog). But the Legend (as you see in the chart) does not have the series and its name indicated. It has each point of the series (only 3 points) separately listed as if it were a series. I appear to be completely blocked from using excel for this. Work around exist? [Better yet why don't you fix this strange/silly/WRONG behavior?].charting legend bug.png

Answer 1

It looks like you changed the markers for some of the points - that is what causes the legend to list them separately.

I'm curious as to why you need a legend at all when there is only one series? If it is essential, you can add a dummy series to the chart, which should then revert the legend to showing the series names. You can always delete the dummy legend entry and plot the series with no marker.

Answer 2

Hi, Tom Conlon

The screenshot shows one series named “Lst3,” but each marker has a different color and appears separately in the legend. This usually happens when Vary colors by point is enabled, so the series setup itself is not the problem.

Here are some suggestions you can try:

Click any plotted point once, so all three points are selected.

Right-click and choose Format Data Series.

In the formatting pane, open Fill & Line > Marker > Fill.

Clear Vary colors by point. All markers should return to one color, and the legend should show only the series name, “Lst3.”

If that option is not visible, change the chart temporarily to another XY Scatter subtype, such as Scatter with Straight Lines and Markers, clear Vary colors by point, and then switch back to the original scatter subtype.

As a fallback, remove the automatic legend and insert a small text box containing “Lst3,” with a matching marker shape beside it. This does not repair the chart behavior, but it provides a clean legend without changing the plotted data.

Thank you for your patience in reading, I hope this information has been helpful to you. 

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