Excel 365 For Mac - Increasing Gap Width Between Columns On A Chart

Question

Hello, everyone.

I am working on an Excel homework assignment that involves a tutorial. The tutorial requires me to adjust the gap width between the vertical columns in a bar chart to a certain percentage. The trouble is I can't figure out where in the world the option to adjust the gap width is located. When I checked what version of Excel I am using, it showed I am using Excel, Version 15.24, with a license for Office 365 for Mac. So have fun figuring this one out!

Below are the specific instructions from my textbook:

To format the chart columns:

**1.**Make sure the Projected Revenue and Expenses chart is still selected and the Format pane is still open.

2. In the "Format" pane, click the AXIS OPTIONS arrow, click the Series "Total Revenue" from the list of chart elements. The format pane title changes to "Format Data Series" and all the columns that show total revenue values are selected.

3. In the Format pane, click SERIES OPTIONS to display the list of options, if necessary. Series Overlap sets the amount of overlap between columns of different data series. Gap Width sets the amount of space between on group of columns and the next.

4. Drag the Gap Width slider until 150% appears in the Gap Width box. The gap between groups of columns increases and the individual column widths decrease to make room for the larger gap.

Answer 1

Right-click a Column & select Format Data Series from the contextual menu. The Format Data Series task pane will display what you're looking for. Note that the controls presented in the task pane will vary depending on the specify type & style of chart.

Since you give no indication of why you're having difficulty following those instructions I'm not sure what else to suggest. They appear to be written based on a Windows version of the program as the model but translate easily here. The main difference is that step 2 refers to the list of chart elements as being on the "Format" pane, whereas in Mac Excel it's on the Format contextual tab of the Ribbon.