XL97: Unexpected Font or Color Formatting Applied to Chart

• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows

SYMPTOMS

When you use the Chart Wizard in Microsoft Excel 97 to create a new chart or to edit an existing chart, the 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:

• When you use the Chart Wizard, you do the following:

      1. In step 1 of the wizard, you click the Custom Types tab, click a
         custom chart type (for example, B&W Column or Blue Pie), and click
         Next.
  

      2. In step 2 of the wizard, you click Back.
  

      3. In step 1 of the wizard, you click the Standard Types tab and
         click a standard chart type.
  

      4. You then click Finish, or click Next and proceed through the
         the Chart Wizard.
  

       -or-
  

• You click Custom Type as the default format for new charts and you click a Standard Type in the Chart Wizard when you create a new chart.

WORKAROUND

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

1. On the Chart menu, click Chart Type. Click the Standard Types tab.

2. Click to select the Default Formatting check box. Then, click OK.

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 Type 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.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article. We are researching this problem and will post new information here in the Microsoft Knowledge Base as it becomes available.

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 the "Press and hold to view sample" button.