Changes in Charting
Updated: January 15, 2009
Applies To: Office Resource Kit
This Office product will reach end of support on October 10, 2017. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see , Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.
Topic Last Modified: 2016-11-14
This article lists the changes in Charting from Microsoft Office 2003 to 2007 Microsoft Office system.
Charting axes
Description: The default tick-mark position is outside the axis. In previous versions, it was inside the axis for East Asian languages, but outside the axis for all other languages.
Reason for change: The new behavior is more consistent, and matches what East Asian customers prefer.
Migration path: Set the tick-mark position to inside the axis.
Chart features
Description: Some chart features have been removed from 2007 Microsoft Office system. Charts that used these features look different in 2007 Office system. Code that accesses the object model properties might not work in the same way. The removed features include: 2-D walls and gridlines on 3-D charts, Excel-specific shape properties on shapes in charts, and locked form controls that do not size with charts.
Reason for change: This change results in charts that are more robust for the future addition of features.
Copy/paste
Description: If a user copies a chart from Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 or Microsoft Office Word 2007 and pastes the chart into a program other than Office PowerPoint 2007, Office Word 2007, or Microsoft Office Excel 2007, the chart is pasted as a picture. If the chart is copied from Office Excel 2007, this is not an issue.
Reason for change: Charts are now integrated with OfficeArt, and must be hosted in an OfficeArt program. With Office Excel 2007, users can copy and paste the entire file from Office Excel 2007 into another program. This is not possible with Office PowerPoint 2007 and Office Word 2007.
Migration path: Paste the chart into Office Excel 2007, and copy the chart from Office Excel 2007 into the other program.
Excel 2007
Description: Charting in 2007 Office system requires Office Excel 2007 to be advertised. If Office Excel 2007 is not advertised, the Insert Chart button is disabled. The Show Data and Data Source buttons in the Chart contextual experience are disabled. Users who do not have Office Excel 2007 cannot create a new chart or edit data in an existing chart. In most cases, users can change formatting on existing charts. Microsoft Graph still exists, but the entry points are removed.
Reason for change: Integrating charting by using Office Excel 2007 provides a consistent charting experience across 2007 Office system. Integrated charting is a native feature of Office PowerPoint 2007 and Office Word 2007, but the data for the chart resides in Office Excel 2007.
Migration path: Charts opened in Office PowerPoint 2007 or Office Word 2007 with Office Excel 2007 installed are automatically upgraded. If Office Excel 2007 is not installed, the charts are not upgraded. To enable charting, switch from stand-alone Office PowerPoint 2007 or Office Word 2007 to 2007 Office system.
Graph: data storage
Description: The data for a graph in Office PowerPoint 2007 or Office Word 2007 is stored in Office Excel 2007, rather than in the graph datasheet.
Reason for change: Charts are now consistent across Office Excel 2007, Office PowerPoint 2007, and Office Word 2007.
Migration path: Data for charts can be edited in Office Excel 2007.
Graph: legend and title
Description: A graph in Office PowerPoint 2007 or Office Word 2007 that does not contain data does not show its title or legend. In Office 2003, the title or legend still shows.
Reason for change: Charts are now consistent between Office Excel 2007, Office PowerPoint 2007, and Office Word 2007.
Graph: Lotus 1-2-3 files
Description: Graphs no longer import Lotus 1-2-3 format files.
Reason for change: Customer feedback indicates that few users were using this feature. All support for Lotus 1-2-3 format files is also removed from Office Excel 2007.
Integration
Description: When a 3-D chart is ungrouped, the entire plot area continues to exist as a single group.
Reason for change: Charts are now drawn in realistic 3-D, and it is not possible to ungroup a realistic 3-D drawing into a set of 2-D shapes.
Migration path: Users often ungrouped charts to apply features that existed in OfficeArt, but not in Chart. Many of those features can now be applied directly in Chart. Alternatively, you can use Microsoft Graph.
Interaction
Description: The user interface for charts is redesigned.
Reason for change: Charts are integrated with OfficeArt, so as much as possible the user interface is consistent with OfficeArt. The user interface for Office Excel 2007, Office PowerPoint 2007, and Office Word 2007 changed, and charts changed to match the user interface.
Migration path: See Help for mapping of previous topics to new topics. You may need to rewrite macros that used Dialog.Show for some chart dialogs.
Chart selection
Description: Charts no longer automatically come to the front when they are selected.
Reason for change: This new behavior is consistent with the rest of OfficeArt.
User interface: pattern fills
Description: There is no user interface for pattern fills, such as cross hatch and checkerboard.
Reason for change: Charts are now integrated with OfficeArt, and this feature is removed from OfficeArt.
Migration path: Use shading or a gradient instead.
E-mailing charts as pictures
Description: Charts on worksheets cannot be emailed as pictures.
Migration path: Copy and paste a picture of the chart into an e-mail message.
Publishing as Web pages
Description: Charts on worksheets cannot be published as Web pages.
Migration path: Use chart sheets, or use the Chart.Export method in the object model.
Resizing
Description: Resizing a chart that contains shapes works differently than it did in Office 2003.
Reason for change: Charts are now integrated with OfficeArt, and it was not possible to re-implement the Office 2003 behavior for charts.
Legend
Description: Series within charts that have not been assigned names show the series names in the legend as "Series1," "Series2," and so forth.
Reason for change: Charts used different texts for series names in varying places on the chart and in the user interface. These texts are now consistent.
Migration path: Set the names of series if they appear in the legend or elsewhere on the chart.
Macros: Chart.Pictures
Description: Macros using the Chart.Pictures collection might not run.
Reason for change: This feature is redundant with the Chart.Shapes collection.
Migration path: Use the Chart.Shapes collection instead.
Macros: XLM
Description: XLM macros are no longer supported.
Reason for change: XLM is deprecated, but not yet removed.
Migration path: Rewrite XLM macros in VBA.
Programmability: hidden and deprecated objects and properties
Description: Charts provide new formatting objects based on OfficeArt. The previous formatting objects and properties are hidden and deprecated. Hidden and deprecated objects and properties include the Border, Caption, Characters, Fill, Font, HorizontalAlignment, Interior, Orientation, ReadingOrder, Shadow, and VerticalAlignment properties, the ChartFillFormat and ChartColorFormat objects, Chart 3-D properties, and more.
Reason for change: Charts are now integrated with OfficeArt, so the object model also has changed to match OfficeArt.
Migration path: To access the formatting features, switch to the new objects and methods. The objects and methods that are listed are still available, but might be removed in a future version.
Programmability: null return values
Description: In Excel 2003, some properties in the object model returned a null value when the value of the setting for a collection of objects was mixed. In Office Excel 2007, the properties return the value of the setting for the default for the collection. For example, if there is a mixture of automatic and custom data labels, DataLabels.AutoText returns a value of false. If there is a mixture of fonts in a legend, Legend.Font.Name returns the name of the font for new legend entries.
Reason for change: This change makes the object model more internally consistent. Code does not have to be written to handle null return values.
Migration path: Change macros that use this property to detect mixed cases.
Programmability: chart properties
Description: Chart properties other than Chart.ChartGroups that return ChartGroups are deprecated.
Reason for change: These properties were rarely used.
Migration path: Change macros to use Chart.ChartGroups. Loop through the ChartGroups to find the correct chart type.
Programmability: Excel 5.0 object model
Description: Beginning with Excel 97, the VBA object model for shapes from Excel 5.0 was hidden. This object model is no longer supported for shapes on charts.
Reason for change: This feature was previously hidden.
Migration path: Use the shape object model that became available with Excel 97.
Visual: pattern fills in 3-D charts
Description: Pattern fills on 3-D charts are drawn on the surface of the 3-D chart. In previous versions, these fills were drawn without regard for the angle of the surface to the screen.
Reason for change: Charts are now drawn in realistic 3-D, and it is not possible to draw this optical illusion.
Migration path: The pattern fills can be replaced with other types of fills, or the chart can be changed to a 2-D chart type.
Visual: realistic 3-D shading
Description: 3-D charts have appropriate lighting and shading, and colors might not precisely match previous versions.
Reason for change: Charts are now drawn in realistic 3-D.
Visual: data labels and legend keys
Description: In previous versions, data labels could show legend keys. This feature is no longer supported.
Reason for change: It was not possible to implement this feature for 2007 Office system.
Visual: scales
Description: Charts that have the scale on the value (y) axis set to Automatic might have changed scales in 2007 Office system.
Reason for change: Charts now use OfficeArt text, and information about text size and wrapping is used to identify the axis scaling.
Migration path: Set the scaling to a fixed value.
Visual: default chart colors and formatting
Description: The defaults for chart colors and other formatting are changed in Office Excel 2007. Charts that are opened from Excel 2003 files are not changed.
Reason for change: The formatting defaults for charts in Office Excel 2007 are established in relation to the document's theme and to the style of the individual chart. This change results in visually attractive charts that match the rest of the document, and does not require extensive formatting changes.
Migration path: Macros that create charts now produce different results. In most cases, the new chart constitutes a preferred result. In some cases where a precise appearance is desired, the macro must be modified to achieve that precise appearance.
Visual: default chart size
Description: The default chart size in Office Excel 2007 has changed.
Reason for change: The layout defaults in Office Excel 2007 vary, depending on the chart.
Migration path: Charts can be resized to any preferred size.
Visual: text wrapping
Description: Text on charts might wrap differently than in earlier versions. In rare cases, the change in text wrapping might cause text to overlap on charts where text did not overlap before. In other cases, text that was cut off and marked with an ellipsis (...) might not be cut off.
Reason for change: Customer feedback indicated that text should appear identically on the screen to text on the printed page. Customers also wanted text in charts to show no change when the charts are moved from one program to another in the 2007 Office release. Charts now use OfficeArt text, which is consistent between screen and printer and across programs.
Migration path: Charts are drawn in 2007 Office system to match Office 2003 versions as closely as possible. Macros that rely on chart layout being precise to the pixel might produce slightly different results than before.
Visual: cylinder and cone charts
Description: Cylinder and cone charts with borders look different. Earlier versions of Excel drew the silhouettes of cylinders and cones, and their circular edges. Cone or cylinder charts that have only a border and no fill might disappear entirely.
Reason for change: Charts are now drawn in realistic 3-D, and it is no longer possible to draw silhouettes of rounded shapes.
Visual: raster and printer fonts
Description: Charts no longer support either raster fonts or printer fonts. Charts still support TrueType fonts and Postscript fonts.
Reason for change: Charts are now integrated with OfficeArt, and it was not possible to re-implement support for raster and printer fonts. Customers rarely used raster and printer fonts.
Migration path: Change files so that they use TrueType fonts. Files that are configured with raster or printer fonts will be drawn using a TrueType font that is a close approximation.
Visual: negative values in 3-D stacked charts
Description: 3-D stacked or 100% stacked area charts that have negative values look different in Office Excel 2007.
Reason for change: The new behavior is more consistent with other stacked chart types.
Migration path: Replace the negative numbers with positive numbers to replicate Excel 2003 behavior.
Visual: data labels for #N/A values
Description: Pie and doughnut charts do not display data labels for #N/A values.
Visual: negative color inversion
Description: There is no way to set the invert if there is a negative color on solid fills.
Migration path: Charts from previous versions still open correctly.
Download this book
This topic is included in the following downloadable book for easier reading and printing:
Technical reference for the 2007 Office release
See the full list of available books at Downloadable content for the 2007 Office Resource Kit.