How to Change Axis on Excel Graph

Creating a chart in Excel is the easy part. The real difference between a basic chart and a professional one often comes down to the details - and the axes are a huge part of that. Changing the axis on your Excel graph can instantly improve clarity, highlight the right information, and turn a confusing visual into a compelling story. This guide will walk you through everything you need to know about customizing your chart axes in Excel, from simple tweaks to advanced formatting.

First, Why Should You Change Your Chart Axis?

Before diving into the "how," let's quickly cover the "why." Tweaking your chart axes isn't just about making things look pretty, it's a strategic move to make your data more understandable. Here are a few common reasons:

• To Improve Readability: Default settings can sometimes create cluttered axes with too many numbers or labels. Adjusting the scale or units makes the chart easier to read at a glance.
• To Focus on the Narrative: Sometimes, starting an axis at zero hides the important variations in your data. By changing the minimum and maximum bounds, you can "zoom in" on the story your data is telling.
• To Provide Context: A series of numbers on an axis isn't very helpful without context. Adding currency symbols, percentage signs, or display units (like "Millions") makes the data immediately meaningful.
• To Combine Different Data Types: You might need to show revenue (in dollars) and units sold (as a count) on the same chart. A secondary axis is essential for displaying two different scales without distorting the data.

The Command Center: Finding the 'Format Axis' Pane

Nearly every change you'll make to an Excel chart axis happens in one place: the Format Axis pane. Think of this as your command center for all things axis-related. Getting to it is simple, and there are two main ways to do it.

Method 1: The Right-Click Method (Fastest)

1. Click directly on the axis you want to change (either the horizontal or vertical axis). You'll know it's selected when you see a border appear around it.
2. Right-click on the selected axis.
3. From the context menu that appears, choose "Format Axis...".

A pane will slide out from the right side of your screen with all the available formatting options.

Method 2: Using the Ribbon Menu

1. Click anywhere on your chart to select it.
2. Two new tabs will appear on the Excel Ribbon: "Chart Design" and "Format." Click on the Format tab.
3. On the far left, you'll see a dropdown menu under "Current Selection." Click this and choose the axis you want to edit (e.g., "Vertical (Value) Axis").
4. Once selected, click the "Format Selection" button just below the dropdown.

Whichever method you use, the same 'Format Axis' pane will appear. Now let's put it to work.

The Most Common Axis Adjustments and How to Make Them

The 'Format Axis' pane has a lot of options, but you'll likely use a handful of them over and over. Here’s a step-by-step guide to the most practical and powerful adjustments.

Changing the Axis Bounds (Minimum and Maximum Values)

This is arguably the most impactful change you can make. By default, Excel usually starts your value axis at zero. But if all your data points are clustered far from zero, this can flatten your chart and hide meaningful trends.

Example: Imagine your company's monthly sales figures range from $480,000 to $510,000. On a chart that goes from $0 to $600,000, the line will look almost flat. By changing the minimum bound, you can zoom in on the important variance.

How to do it:

1. Open the Format Axis pane for your value (usually vertical) axis.
2. Make sure you're on the 'Axis Options' tab (it looks like a small bar chart).
3. Under the 'Bounds' section, you'll see input boxes for 'Minimum' and 'Maximum.' They will be set to 'Auto' by default.
4. Type in new values. For our example, you might set the Minimum to 450000 and the Maximum to 520000.
5. Press Enter, and your chart will instantly update. To revert, just click the "Reset" button next to each box.

Adjusting Major and Minor Units

The "units" control the interval of the gridlines and labels on your axis. Major units determine where the primary labels and gridlines appear, while Minor units control the finer, unlabeled tick marks in between.

Why change this? Excel might auto-select awkward intervals like $1,333. You can set it to a rounder number like $1,000 for clarity, or you might reduce the number of gridlines to make the chart look cleaner.

How to do it:

1. In the Format Axis pane, under 'Axis Options,' look for the 'Units' section.
2. Like the bounds, the 'Major' and 'Minor' units will be on 'Auto.' Overwrite them with your preferred numbers.
3. For instance, changing the 'Major' unit from auto to 50000 will place a gridline on your axis every $50,000.

Changing Display Units for Large Numbers

If you're working with large numbers (like revenue in the millions or billions), your axis labels can become long and cluttered (e.g., "$5,000,000", "$10,000,000"). The Display Units feature elegantly solves this.

How to do it:

1. Open the Format Axis pane and navigate to 'Axis Options'.
2. Find the 'Display units' section.
3. Click the dropdown and choose from options like Hundreds, Thousands, Millions, Billions, etc.
4. Your axis numbers will update immediately (e.g., "$5,000,000" becomes "5"). To provide context, check the box that says "Show display units label on chart." This will add a small label (e.g., "Millions") next to your axis.

Reversing the Order of an Axis

Sometimes you need to flip your chart's orientation. On a bar chart, you might want the category with the highest value to appear at the top instead of the bottom. Or, if you're plotting something like depth, a higher number signifies a lower position.

How to do it:

1. Open the Format Axis pane for the axis you want to flip (this works for both vertical and horizontal axes).
2. Under 'Axis Options,' simply check the box that says "Values in reverse order."

Pro-Tip: When you reverse the vertical category axis on a bar chart, the horizontal value axis jumps to the top. To move it back to the bottom, open the 'Format Axis' pane for the horizontal axis, go to 'Labels,' and under 'Label Position,' change it from "High" to "Low."

Adding a Secondary Axis

This is an incredibly useful feature for comparing two data series that have vastly different scales. Trying to plot Sales Volume (e.g., 500 units) and Total Revenue (e.g., $1,500,000) on the same primary axis just doesn't work, the sales volume line would be squashed at the bottom.

How to do it:

1. First, create your chart with both data series. It will look messy, and that's okay.
2. Right-click on the data series you want to move to a new axis (in a line or bar chart, click directly on the line or one of the bars).
3. From the context menu, select "Format Data Series...".
4. In the pane that opens, under 'Series Options,' you'll see a choice between 'Primary Axis' and 'Secondary Axis'. Select 'Secondary Axis.'

Excel will instantly create a new value axis on the right side of the chart, scaled appropriately for that data series. You can now select this new axis and format it independently using all the methods we've already covered.

Adding and Formatting Number Types

Your numbers need labels! Add context to your axis by formatting them as currency, percentages, or dates right from the axis pane.

How to do it:

1. Open the Format Axis pane.
2. Scroll all the way down to the collapsible 'Number' section and expand it.
3. You'll see a 'Category' dropdown with all the familiar Excel formatting options (Currency, Percentage, Date, etc.).
4. Select the one you need and adjust the settings, like decimal places or currency symbols. This applies the format directly to your axis labels without changing your source data.

Changing Axes for Dates and Text

Not all axes display numbers. When working with dates or text categories, you will find a few unique options in the 'Format Axis' pane.

Customizing a Date Axis

If you're plotting time series data, Excel recognizes when the horizontal axis is a date axis. Under 'Axis Options,' you'll find the 'Units' section now includes Base units (Days, Months, Years). This lets you set your major and minor gridlines at logical time intervals, like every 7 days or every 3 months.

Customizing a Text (Category) Axis

For a category axis, which is typically found on the horizontal axis for bar and column charts, the formatting options are a little different. The most common adjustments are found under the 'Labels' section.

• Interval between labels: If you have too many categories overlapping, you can set the interval to show only every 2nd or 3rd label.
• Label Position: By default, labels are 'Next to Axis.' Moving them to 'High' or 'Low' can sometimes make better use of space.
• Alignment and Text Direction: When your category names are long, changing the text direction (e.g., rotating the text 45 degrees) is a great way to stop them from running into each other. You can find these settings under the 'Size & Properties' tab (it looks like a box with sizing arrows).

Final Thoughts

Getting your chart axes right in Excel is the key step from generating a basic visual to communicating a clear, insightful story. By adjusting the bounds to focus on key changes, changing units for context, or adding a secondary axis for complex comparisons, you present your data with more power and clarity.

While this manual fine-tuning is powerful, it can still become tedious, especially when pulling and updating data from numerous different platforms. If you find yourself spending too much of your day downloading CSVs and fixing axis settings in Excel, that’s exactly why we built Graphed. You connect your data sources, like Google Analytics or Shopify, and then simply describe the dashboard you want to see in plain English. Everything updates automatically in real-time, letting you focus on answering questions, not wrestling with formatting panes.