XL2000: Unexpected Font or Color Formatting Applied to Chart (211677)

SYMPTOMS

When you use the Chart Wizard in Microsoft Excel to create a new chart or edit an existing chart, the resulting chart may contain formatting you do not expect. For example, the chart may use a background color or fill that you did not specify, or labels in the chart may use a font you did not specify.

CAUSE

This problem occurs when either of the following conditions is true:

You selected a custom chart type and then switched to a standard chart type.

-or-
You set a custom chart type as the default, but selected a standard chart type when you created a new chart.

The problem occurs because Microsoft Excel fails to remove all of the formatting that is applied by the custom chart format when you switch from a custom chart format to a standard chart format.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem, reset the chart to the default format. To do this, follow these steps:

Select any chart.
On the Chart menu, click Chart Type. Click the Standard Types tab.
Click to select the Default formatting check box, and then click OK.

Note that you can also manually reformat parts of the chart by selecting them and pressing CTRL+1.

To prevent this problem from occurring, do not click Next in step 1 of the wizard until you are sure that you have selected the correct chart format. The custom formatting is not applied to the chart until you click Next.

NOTE: If you already proceeded to step 2 of the wizard, clicking Cancel prevents the changes from being applied to the chart.

You can also prevent this problem from occurring by setting the default chart type to a non-custom type.

MORE INFORMATION

If you want to see what the chart will look like when you use the Chart Wizard to create or edit the chart, click the Standard Types tab in step 1 of the wizard, and then click Press and Hold to View Sample.

REFERENCES

For more information about setting the default chart type, click Microsoft Excel Help on the Help menu, type Change the default chart type in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wizard, and then click Search to view the topic.