Defaul Chart Settings

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rm2010

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Hi Guys

Everytime I create a line chart I get these big thick lines. I want my charts to look a little less frumpy and cartoon like. How can I create a chart where all the lines are defaulted at 1.25 instead of the current 2.25.

Thanks
RM
 
Hi there, and welcome to the forum!

Agreed, it would be really nice to be able to set defaults that made the charts look better. (Great wording, and couldn't agree more!) Unfortunatley, we don't have a way that I'm aware of to set defaults. I think that would be an awesome add to Excel, but I can't see it happening any time soon. :(

In the mean time, you could use a little VBA to change all the lines on a chart to a thinner weight.

To use this, press Alt+F11
Find your workbook in the Project Explorer (usually the window on the left)
Right click your workbook and insert a new module
Paste the following in the pane that opens up:
Code: 
Sub MakeThinLines()
    Dim lsc As Long
    With ActiveChart
        For lsc = 1 To 100
            On Error GoTo ExitPoint
            .SeriesCollection(lsc).Format.Line.Weight = 1.25
        Next lsc
    End With
ExitPoint:
End Sub
Close the Visual Basic Editor

Now, any time you want to reformat a chart in that workbook, Press Alt+f8 and run the "MakeThinLines" macro.

Hope it helps,
 
You can kludge it by creating a template chart and use that for your charts. That will allow you to set any formatting you like. However, you need to ensure that the chart you save as a template has enough series on it to cover most of your chart use. If, for example, you create a chart with 3 series formatted the way you want and save it as a template, and then use that for a chart using 4 series, the last series will revert back to Excel's defaults.
FYI, applying the Module effect on a line chart will reduce the lines to 1.5pt in one click.
 
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