Comments on: Why I don’t like Excel 2007 charts

By: Jon Peltier

Jon Peltier — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 12:03:14 +0000

Jay - Read my tutorial about Using Excel with Other Office Applications. It is heavily concentrated on moving charts using the image vector format of Picture (which relates to Windows Metafile). The only problem is that in Office 2007, the charts are not copied as faithfully as in 2003.

By: Chart Presentation

Chart Presentation — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 07:30:53 +0000

can I easily past a chart from excel into ppt as an enhancend metafile WITHOUT going through the paste special or atl-e-s-…etc methods? Like, say, a quick bar button?

By: Jon Peltier

Jon Peltier — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 21:09:45 +0000

DR -

I’ve never encountered this kind of thing, but plenty of other users have. I don’t know why, and neither apparently does Microsoft, since it keeps happening.

By: DRamsey

DRamsey — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 20:59:50 +0000

Why am I only able to print out 1 or 2 graph charts from my excel 2003 workbook when I am in excel 2007? It is really frustrating.
Thank you.

By: Sherri

Sherri — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 20:07:23 +0000

I’ve got a related issue (I think). We have some computers with 2003 and some with 2007. None of the charts are showing up when I open the 2003 created workbook in 2007. Any fix you’re aware of? I’m currently trying to reprogram the charts in a 2007 workbook, but I agree with you – they are way fuzzy looking – not the crisp look I’m used to in prior versions. (add that all to the fact that the Excel 2003 file locks up my Excel for ages trying to open!).

By: John

John — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 21:25:26 +0000

I agree with the banker guy. I own a small SW company that mines data from data historians using Excel. We might look at 1000 variables going back 9 months every 4 minutes. We even have a feature to automatically create a PowerPoint file using Excel graphs (creates slides and charts based on statitistical signficance). I would say I have never met another Excel addin that does more than ours does. So I would definitely characterize us as power users. That said, 2007 is a disaster – why did MS change the graph object model without telling anyone? If you have code to manipulate graph objects, get ready for problems when you switch to 2007. Who cares about fuzzy lines? There are much larger issues out there, like the graph object model. Here is another pet peeve: in 2003 when you hover over a series, it gives you the x,y values. In 2007 you have to select the series? WHY?

The only thing worse than 2007 is 2007 on Vista. Every try and drag an object in a Webex session? It locks up your PC – totally. Nice job, MS.

By: Jon Peltier

Jon Peltier — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:23:43 +0000

Hi Rene -

It’s never too late te leave me a comment!

I’ve never noticed this problem, but I don’t use workbooks I’ve made in 2007 in earlier versions. I’m sure some have noticed it. I don’t think it would be high on the list of things to fix, since it would perhaps encourage people to upgrade.

By: Rene Tenazas

Rene Tenazas — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 17:06:01 +0000

Jon,

This might be a late comment, but I have a problem with Excel 2007 charts that no one else seems to have brought up. If I create a chart in Excel 2007 and save it in a .xls file under compatibility mode, then give that chart to someone with Excel 2000 or Excel 2003, they cannot see the entire chart. The legend or y-axis text is cropped/truncated.

It appears that the “compatibility mode” of Excel 2007 is not really compatible with earlier versions of Excel. For that reason, I do not use 2007 to create charts that I intend to share with others using earlier Excel versions. Am I the only one with this kind of problem?

Rene

By: fabrice

fabrice — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 10:41:34 +0000

Jon,

I found a recent survey you might be interested in, on Excel French site ” http://www.excel-downloads.com/” regarding Excel versions

Out of 3324 answers between 06/13/2008 au 08/31/2008 :

1 – Excel 2003 : 44,9%
2 – Excel 2007 : 30,6%
3 – Excel 2000 : 7,6%
4 – Excel XP : 5,9%
5 – Excel 97 : 4%
6 – Excel 2004 MAC : 3,1%
7 – Excel 2002 : 2,9%
8 – Others : 0,9%

Rgards

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 09:11:07 +0000

Thanks for the tip Jon, I think I’ll avoid the simultaneous installations and stick 2003 on a virtual machine.