I used to find it easy to add a new chart, select its type, select data etc etc but Excel 365 has defeated me



What I want is a boring old column chart, with the columns touching each other, just like the column picture when I select chart type.

I insert the chart, select the type (column), select the data and the horizontal axis values (they're dates) and the chart appears.

However the columns are near zero width and I can't find how to make them wider.

Somehow I managed to create a bizarre version where each column is a different colour. They're wider, but the whole thing is a mess.

I went into chart type and found that Excel didn't create the Column chart I had selected but something it calls Combo.

If I change the chart type to Column, I get about thee big columns (there are about 50 data points) and the horizontal axis labels change from dates to a meaningless jumble of pairs of numbers.

How do I create a simple column chart, please ?

PS I can work aroud this by taking an old chart, created in an earlier version of Excel, and copying/pasting it and updating the data source etc, but surely there's a sensible way to create something simple ?

Select the series in the chart, then:
2024-02-10_114708.jpg

Thank you - very clear indeed - but I am falling down earlier in the process . . .

I seem unable to create a proper new column chart in the first place: the object that Excel creates when I select Column for the Chart Type consists of narrow vertical lines which do not respond to changes in Overlap or Gap. The X-axis with dates is correctly presented, as are the numbers on the Y-axis.

Curiously, I copied a Column chart in the same Workbook, that I had created earlier and which correctly formatted and I can edit the Gaps etc, and when I paste it, it takes the odd "vertical lines" format and I can do nothing to change that - just as when I create a new Column chart.i

I have been exploring the options for a new chart and cannot find one whch gives me simple columns as per your example. I must be missing something but I can't see it !

Attached Images

2024 02 10 Charting issue.jpg (55.4 KB, 9 views)

Mock up a version of your file so I can have a look, with your current chart attempt, and attach it here.

Thank you - here it is . . .

Attached Files

2024 02 10 Attempted column chart.xlsx (14.4 KB, 2 views)

Those narrow columns are because all the dates from nearly a span of 3 months are shown on the x-axis. This is something that MS introduced some years ago; it's a cross between a plain category x-axis and a full blown x-y (scatter) chart.
In this case Excel has opted for the automatic recognition of dates for plotting in a time proportional way along the x-axis.
Easy to change, select the horizontal axis first then:


2024-02-10_183708.jpg


and it should end up like:


2024-02-10_184018.jpg

Thank you !
That has been the clearest, most helpful, assistance I think I've ever had . . . and the issue is not only fixed but I understand what happened.
Brilliant.