Excel 2010: Graph: Bring Series to Front of Graph

Question

_{Sunday, January 15, 2012 12:50 PM}

Goal: control the layering of each data series from front to back on a line graph.

Issue: Moving the data series up or down the data series list does not seem to affect the layering position.  The graph has many data series both line and non-line.

All replies (5)

_{Sunday, January 15, 2012 7:05 PM ✅Answered | 1 vote}

Goal: control the layering of each data series from front to back on a line graph.

Issue: Moving the data series up or down the data series list does not seem to affect the layering position.  The graph has many data series both line and non-line.

 

 

There are certain cases where Excel will not let you change the layering.  One of them is when there are different types of series in the same chart.  For example, with a Line and a Column series, the line is always in front of the column.

Another case is when there are series on the secondary and the primary axis.  For example, a column chart on the secondary axis is always shown in front of a column chart on the primary axis.

Tushar Mehta (Technology and Operations Consulting)
www.tushar-mehta.com (Excel and PowerPoint add-ins and tutorials)
Microsoft MVP Excel 2000-Present

_{Friday, January 24, 2014 7:31 PM}

Hi Tushar,

I have a chart with a line and a column chart, so I see that bringing column chart to front is impossible. However, my line chart is just a horizontal line, so I can easily replace it with just a line. However, I cannot still figure out how to either bring that line to the back or bring the column chart to the front.

Thank you

_{Saturday, April 5, 2014 12:08 AM}

You can right click the line you created and select 'Send to back'

_{Thursday, June 15, 2017 1:32 PM}

Hi, the solution is quite simple. Simply pull are your data series that were primary to secondary, and make your secondary data series primary. This will reverse the layout of the data series.

_{Wednesday, September 20, 2017 9:05 PM}

Hi, the solution is quite simple. Simply pull are your data series that were primary to secondary, and make your secondary data series primary. This will reverse the layout of the data series.

Unfortunately, as described by Tushar, this will not work in this situation.  Lines always show in front of columns and changing from primary to secondary has no effect.

It is unfortunate that Microsoft has chosen to override the ability to change the order like this.  While it may be right most of the time, the reason I am here is because it doesn't suit my particular graph.  I want the nice narrow columns to be at the front so they can be compared to the thick lines I want to use in the background.

Seems like running into the limits of Excel is what I do.