Format Category (X) Axis dialog

This dialog appears when you right-click a chart and then select Format Axis (unavailable to pie or indicator chart) > Format Category (X) Axis from the shortcut menu. It helps you to format the category (X) axis of the chart, and consists of the following tabs:

OK

Applies the changes and closes the dialog.

Cancel

Does not retain any changes and closes the dialog.

Help

Displays the help document about this feature.

Axis tab

This tab shows some general information of the category (X) axis of the chart. See the tab.

Option

Specifies the options for the axis.

Scrollable Chart

Specifies whether to make the chart scrollable. If checked, a scrollbar will be added in the chart, with which you can control the visible value range on the axis. Available to 2-D charts of bar, bench, line, area and stock types only.

Line

Specifies the line style for the axis.

Gap

Specifies the gap properties for the labels on the axis.

Tick Mark tab

The tab consists of three sub tabs: major tick mark tab, minor tick mark tab, and scale tab.

Major Tick Mark tab

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

Type

Specifies the type of the major tick marks on the axis.

Line

Specifies the line properties of the major tick marks on the axis.

Option

Specifies the other properties of the major tick mark labels on the axis.

Minor Tick Mark tab

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

Type

Specifies the type of the minor tick marks on the axis.

Line

Specifies the line properties for the minor tick marks on the axis.

Option

Specifies the other properties of the minor tick marks on the axis.

Scale tab

Customizes the way in which to label the tick marks on the axis. Available only when the field on the category axis is one of the following types: Number, Date, DateTime, and Time, and not applied for scatter charts or when the category axis is used to show numeric data in bubble charts. See the tab.

Use Constant Interval

Specifies whether to use a constant interval to label the tick marks. If checked, the values of the tick marks will be increased continually on the axis based on the following properties, instead of just using the data values.

Minimum

Specifies the minimum value which will be used to label the tick marks.

Maximum

Specifies the maximum value which will be used to label the tick marks.

Major Unit

Specifies the unit between two adjacent major tick marks.

Minor Unit

Specifies the unit between two adjacent minor tick marks.

Font tab

The tab consists of two sub tabs: major label tab and minor label tab.

Major Label tab

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

Font

Specifies the font face of the label text.

Size

Specifies the font size of the label text.

Fill Type

Specifies the fill type of the label text.

Color

Specifies the color of the label text.

Transparency

Specifies the transparency of the label text.

Font Style

Specifies the font style of the text. It can be one of the following: Plain, Bold, Italic and Bold Italic.

Minor Label tab

Specifies the font format of the minor tick mark labels on the axis. See the tab.

Correlate with Major Label

If checked, the font format of the minor tick mark labels will correlate with that of the major tick mark labels automatically. Only when it is unchecked can the font properties of the minor tick mark labels take effect.

Font

Specifies the font face of the label text.

Size

Specifies the font size of the label text.

Fill Type

Specifies the fill type of the label text.

Color

Specifies the color of the label text.

Transparency

Specifies the transparency of the label text.

Font Style

Specifies the font style of the text. It can be one of the following: Plain, Bold, Italic and Bold Italic.

Orientation tab

The tab consists of two sub tabs: major label tab and minor label tab.

Major Label 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 major tick mark label text on the axis automatically according to the length of the label text, in degrees.

When this option is checked by default:

Angle

Specifies to customize the rotation angle of the major tick mark label text on the axis.

Minor Label tab

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

Correlate with Major Label

If checked, the orientation setting of the minor tick mark labels will correlate with that of the major tick mark labels automatically. Only when it is unchecked can the orientation properties of the minor tick mark labels take effect.

Automatic

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

When this option is checked by default:

Angle

Specifies to customize the rotation angle of the minor tick mark label text on the axis.

Format tab

The tab consists of two sub tabs: major label tab and minor label tab.

Major Label 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.

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.

Minor Label tab

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

Correlate with Major Label

If checked, the data format of the minor tick mark labels will correlate with that of the major tick mark labels automatically. Only when it is unchecked can the format properties of the minor tick mark labels take effect.

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.

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 minor tick mark labels.