Add some columns to the data:

The formulas in E2 through H2 are

=IF(OR(B2<C2,B2<D2),B2,0)

=IF(C2<D2,C2,0)

=IF(AND(D2<B2,D2<C2),D2,0)

=IF(AND(B2<C2,B2<D2),B2,0)

Here is the chart, not fully overlapped:

And here is the chart, with fully overlapped bars:

You can’t interweave two series in that manner. A series can be either completely in front of or completely behind another series.

I can’t seem to get both orders correct at once. In short, the right-most bar (i.e. the one with the highest series number) is always in front. Is there a way to play with front/back bar overlap without changing the order of the series? (I’d post a picture if there were an easy way but hopefully I’m explaining it clearly.)

(If I only had two series, I could get it working by playing with primary/secondary axes, but as it is these need to all be on the same axis anyway.)

Is it possible to overlap columns in a clustered stacked column chart?

Suppose one of the clustered columns depicts investments categorised in 3 sections -operational assets, non operational assets & sunk costs stacked on top of each other & the 2nd column shows equity injections into the project & retained earnings from the project due to shareholders stacked one on the above.

In a situation where the retained earnings is negative from a couple of projects, is it possible to show this negative figure as overlapping on the equity portion (instead of stacking it below zero) to illustrate how much of the equity injections have been eaten away by losses from those projects?
savithri

There is a particular Z-order to the series. Primary axis series are behind secondary group series of the same chart type. Within an axis group, the earlier plot order series are below the later plot order series.

Think of the series as being laid down in order. Primary series are laid down first, in the order 1, 2, 3, then secondary.

another excellent post!

I’m having a couple of difficulties with having a 3 series chart. Just using overlap tends to favour the largest one. Basically I want the 3rd series as a “background” to the other 2. Does this approach depend on the secondary axis only? Is there a z-index facility to use with overlap?

Also, on an unrelated note, one of columns is very small, but still a positive integer, and appears below the y-axis. Is this an unresolved bug with the system?

Cheers,
James

Beware the optical illusion.