Format Series (Z) Axis dialog

This dialog appears when you double-click the series (Z) axis of a chart, or right-click a chart and then select Format Axes > Format Series (Z) Axis from the shortcut menu. It helps you to format the series (Z) axis of a chart, and consists of the following tabs:

• Axis tab
• Tick Mark tab
• Font tab
• Orientation tab
• Format tab

OK

Applies the changes and closes the dialog.

Cancel

Does not retain any changes and closes the dialog.

Apply

Applies all changes and leaves the dialog open.

Help

Displays the help document about this feature.

Axis tab

Specifies the general properties for the axis. See the tab.

Option

Specifies options for the axis.

• Draw Axis Only
  Specifies whether to show the labels on the axis.
• Show Axis Label Tips
  Specifies whether to display the complete label text when the mouse pointer points at a label on the axis. Available only when Draw Axis Only is unchecked.
• Show Gridlines
  Specifies whether to show gridlines on the axis.
• Number of Labels
  Specifies how many labels to be displayed on the axis. Available only when Draw Axis Only is unchecked.
• Label Every N Tick Marks
  Specifies whether to display a label every N tick marks. Available only when Draw Axis Only is unchecked.

Line

Specifies the line style for the axis.

• Color
  Specifies the color of the axis.

  To change the color, click the color image button to display the color palette in which you can select a color, or click More Colors to customize the color within a wider range in the Pick a Color dialog. You can also input the hexadecimal value of a color directly in the text box after #.

• Transparency
  Specifies the transparency for the color of the axis.
• Style
  Specifies the style of the axis.
• Thickness
  Specifies the thickness of the axis.

Labels

Specifies properties for the labels on the axis.

• Label Axis Gap
  Specifies the distance between the label and the axis.
• Best Effect
  Specifies whether to adjust the labels automatically to make them placed best.

Tick Mark tab

Specifies properties of the tick marks on the axis. See the tab.

Tick Mark

Specifies the line properties of the tick marks.

• Correlate with Axis
  If checked, the line properties of the tick marks will correlate with that of the axis automatically. Only when it is unchecked can the following four properties take effect.
• Color
  Specifies the color of the tick marks.

  To change the color, click the color image button to display the color palette in which you can select a color, or click More Colors to customize the color within a wider range in the Pick a Color dialog. You can also input the hexadecimal value of a color directly in the text box after #.

• Transparency
  Specifies the transparency for the color of the tick marks.
• Style
  Specifies the type of the tick marks.
• Thickness
  Specifies the thickness of the tick marks.

Major Tick Mark

Specifies properties of the major tick marks on the axis.

• None
  If selected, major tick marks will not be shown on the axis and it will be meaningless to specify all the other major tick mark related properties.
• Inside
  If selected, major tick marks will be inside the chart.
• Outside
  If selected, major tick marks will be outside the chart.
• Cross
  If selected, major tick marks will be across the axis.
• Major Tick Length
  Specifies the length of the major tick marks on the axis.

Minor Tick Mark

Specifies properties of the minor tick marks on the axis.

• None
  If selected, minor tick marks will not be shown on the axis and it will be meaningless to specify all the other minor tick mark related properties.
• Inside
  If selected, minor tick marks will be inside the chart.
• Outside
  If selected, minor tick marks will be outside the chart.
• Cross
  If selected, minor tick marks will be across the chart.
• Minor Tick Length
  Specifies the length of the minor tick marks on the axis.

Font tab

Specifies the font format of text in the major tick mark labels on the axis. See the tab.

Font

Specifies the font format of text in the major tick mark labels.

• Font list
  Lists all the available font faces that can be selected to apply to the text.
• Font Size
  Specifies the font size of the text.
• Font Color
  Specifies the font color of the text.

  To change the color, click the color image button to display the color palette in which you can select a color, or click More Colors to customize the color within a wider range in the Pick a Color dialog, or click More Fill Effects to customize in the Fill Effects dialog. You can also input the hexadecimal value of a color directly in the text box after #.

• Transparency
  Specifies the transparency of the text.
• Rotation
  Specifies the rotation angle of the text around its center, in degrees. The default value is 0.
• Shearing
  Specifies the gradient of the text.

Effects

Specifies the special effects of text in the major tick mark labels.

• Style
  Specifies the font style of the text. It can be one of the following: plain, bold, italic, and bold italic.
• Strikethrough
  Specifies the style of the horizontal line with which the text is struck through. It can be one of the following: none, thin line, bold line, and double lines.
• Underline
  Specifies the style of the horizontal line under the text. It can be one of the following: none, single, single lower, bold line, bold lower, double lines, bold double, patterned line, and bold patterned.
• Superscript
  Raises the text above the baseline and changes the text to a smaller font size, if a smaller size is available.
• Embossed
  Makes the text appear to be raised off the page in relief.
• Outlined
  Displays the inner and outer borders of each character.
• Subscript
  Lowers the text below the baseline and changes the text to a smaller font size, if a smaller size is available.
• Engraved
  Makes the text appear to be imprinted or pressed into the page.
• Shadowed
  Adds a shadow beneath and to the right of the text.

Sample

Displays the specified font and any text effects.

Orientation tab

Specifies the rotation angle of the major tick mark labels on the axis. See the tab.

Automatic

Specifies to adjust the rotation angle of the label text on the axis automatically according to the length of the label text, in degrees.

When this option is checked by default:

• If the text can be completely displayed horizontally, the default rotation angle will be 0.
• If the text cannot be completely displayed horizontally, the default rotation angle will be 30 anticlockwise, and the cut off part will be shown as suspension points.

Angle

Specifies to customize the rotation angle of the label text on the axis. When you change the rotation angle in the text box, the red line in the spin box will change correspondingly, and vice versa.

Format tab

Specifies the data format of the major tick mark labels on the axis. See the tab.

Category

Lists the category types. Select one to customize its format.

Format

Displays all the formats of the selected category. Select the required one and click Add to add it as the format of the specified category. You can add only one format for each category. For more details about the formats, see A detailed chart property reference.

Properties

Displays the properties of the format you select. If the formats listed in the Format box cannot meet your requirement, define the format in the text field and then click Add to add it as the format of the specified category.

Sample

Displays the selected format effects.

Stack

Lists all the formats you select from different categories.

Add

Adds a format to the Stack list box.

Remove

Removes a format from the Stack list box.

Apply

Applies the specified format in the Stack list box to the major tick mark labels.

Related topics:

• Formatting the series axis