XL98: Chart Data Range Disappears After Changing Series (184172)

SYMPTOMS

When you modify any setting for a chart series on the Series tab in the Source Data dialog box and then click the Data Range tab, the range in the Data Range box disappears, and the following message appears in the dialog box:

The Chart Data Range is too complex to be displayed. If a new Data Range is selected, it will replace all of the series on the Series Panel.

CAUSE

This problem occurs when the following conditions are true:

You are using the Chart Wizard to build a chart and you have changed a setting in the Series tab in the Chart Wizard (step 2). -or-
You click Source Data on the Chart menu to display the Source Data dialog box for a chart that already exists, and you change a setting in the Series tab. -or-
You click the Series tab of the Format Data Series dialog box, and change the series order after creating the chart.

This behavior occurs because of the overlapping nature of the Data Range and Series tabs in the Source Data dialog box. The Data Range box on the Data Range tab is a concise range value that can include series names, series values, or category (x) axis labels. You can individually modify each of these series attributes on the Series tab regardless of the range that is initially selected when you build the chart. Because the Data Range and Series tabs are different representations of the same plot data, and because the Series tab allows you to make detailed changes for the series represented in the chart, changes you make in either tab can override settings on the other tab.

Note that any changes you make in the Series tab are not automatically copied to the Data Range tab. Instead, the changes cause the Data Range box to be empty even though it really isn't.

NOTE: If you add a name to a series on the Series tab and then return to the Data Range tab, the Data Range box is still empty even though the modification may not affect the values in the Data Range.

RESOLUTION

You can ignore the empty Data Range box on the Data Range tab because it does not affect the outcome of the chart. All values that are present on the Series tab determine the value in the Data Range box.

NOTE: If you reenter a Data Range value after you make changes to any field on the Series tab, it replaces all of the series defined on the Series tab and allows you to reestablish whether the series are in rows or columns.

REFERENCES

For more information about changing the cell range used to create a chart, click Contents And Index on the Help menu (or on the Balloon Help menu if you are using a version of the Macintosh operating system earlier than 8.0), click the Index button in Microsoft Excel Help, type the following text:

charts, source data