| November 2005 Tip of the Month | | Tip of the Month Archive | |
Adding Recession Shading to an Excel Chart
PDF version of this Tip of the Month
1. Set up your data in an Excel spreadsheet, similar to the example below, including a variable marking recessions. In this example, recessions = 1 and expansions = -1.
2. Insert an Excel chart into your spreadsheet.
3. Select the "Recession" series on the chart and then select Format - Selected Data Series from the menu bar.
4. Select the "Axis" tab. Mark "Secondary axis". Click OK.
5. With the "Recession" series still selected, select Chart-Chart type from the menu bar.
6. Select "Column" from the Chart type list and click OK.
7. Select the right-hand axis and select Format - Selected Axis from the menu bar.
8. Set the following options and then click OK.
a. On the "Patterns" tab -
b. On the "Scale" tab -
9. Select the "Recession" series and then select Format - Selected Data Series from the menu bar.
10. Set the following options and click OK.
a. On the "Patterns" tab -
b. On the "Options" tab -
Final Results:
