Excel Video 98 shows an easy way to change the order your data is plotted in on a chart. Normally you’ll type data into Excel in the order you want it to appear on a chart. If you’re downloading data from your PM system or some other source, the data may not be in the order you want it to appear on your chart. For example, you may always want the senior physician to be shown first on your chart, even though alphabetically the senior physician is in the middle.
It’s easy to move series up or down in the plot order, but there are a few catches. As soon as you’ve changed the plot order, you lose the ability to switch rows and columns. You also lose some of the shortcuts for adding and removing data series from charts that we discussed in the last Excel Video. Even with these drawbacks, being able to change the plot order in charts is a tool you’ll find helpful as you produce more and more Excel charts.
