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answers:

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I've got a pivot chart which spans several years on the X axis, with data for each day. The problem is that there's a label on the X axis for each day, so they are too cluttered to be readable. I'd like to show just the months as labels instead of the days, and still see data points per day, but here's what I found so far:

  • Doing this is trivial in a normal chart, by going to the axis format settings, on the "Scale" tab, and setting the major unit to "Month(s)". This field does not exist in the same tab for a pivot chart.
  • I can set "Number of categories between tick-mark labels" on the pivot chart, but of course they don't line up with the months.
  • I can set the pivot table to use the month instead of the day, but then a lot of resolution is lost.
  • Setting Charts(1).Axes(xlCategory).MajorUnitScale = xlMonths doesn't seem to do anything.
A: 

You can group the X axis by more than one value, such as by Days and Months. Unfortunately it doesn't eliminate the clutter of the labels for each day, but it does superimpose the Month on the axis.

Patrick Cuff
I've tried creating a month column and adding it to the pivot table (if that's what you mean), but the labels are completely obscured by the day labels.
l0b0
That's not what I mean; right-click on the X axis field in the pivot chart and select Group... from the context menu. If the X axis is a date/time field you can select Seconds, Minutes, Hours, Days, Months, Quarters and/or Years in the list.
Patrick Cuff
That option is not available - I only have "Format Axis...", "Clear", and "Show Detail [...]". I guess it's an Excel 2000 limitation.
l0b0
Are you right clicking on the axis or the pivot chart field just below the axis? Should be the latter.
Patrick Cuff
Thanks for the clarification, but unfortunately that doesn't work either. If I right click the "Date" field (which is formatted as a date) on the X axis, I have a sub-menu "Group and Outline" with an option "Group...". Clicking it results in a message "Cannot group that selection".
l0b0