Excel: Area Series Overlap When Not Stacked in Chart

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Excel, if an area chart is created from columns of worksheet data that increases in value from top to bottom and Stacked is deselected from Format Main Chart, the last column will obscure the other areas of the chart since its values are greater than those of the previous columns.

To alter this, select the chart data as a noncontiguous array, selecting the last column first and successive columns backward to the first column. Once the data is selected in this manner, create the area chart.

Example

       A | B | C |       1. Select C1:C3.
     ____________        2. Hold down the COMMAND key and select B1:B3.
   1 | 1 | 4 | 7 |       3. Hold down the COMMAND key and select A1:A3.
     ____________        4. Create the area chart.
   2 | 2 | 5 | 8 |
     ____________
   3 | 3 | 6 | 9 |
     ____________