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memmons's avatar
memmons
Copper Contributor
Jun 20, 2020

Suddenly don't have access to charts (grayed out)

I have owned MS Office (not 365) for a few years and I had been charting my financial data that I enter into an Excel spreadsheet each week.  Now, suddenly, when I try to chart my data, the recommended chart icon is grayed out as is all the specific choices of charts.  Pivot Tables icon seems to work.  What happened and how do I fix it?

  • JAlexy's avatar
    JAlexy
    Copper Contributor

    I am trying to make a graph of data in excel 360 V.2307 and it is grayed out.  There are several questions asked about this issue, but all the answers I find are not matching the menu or selections of my version.  I followed one person whitch stated go to Options then Advanced then Display Options then select a line about objects and click ALL.  but I have not such choice.  Graphs are a fundamental tool of spreadsheets.  I find it problematic that the feature is greyed out on this tool.  I tried adding a custom button to add graphing but that also does not work.  WHY???

     

    • RichardWeeks's avatar
      RichardWeeks
      Copper Contributor
      The sheet might be protected. If you go to the 'Review' bar, then towards the right hand side of the options will either say "Protect Sheet" or "Unprotect Sheet". If it says "Unprotect Sheet", click that and unprotect it, then you cna use the chart options.
  • Hello,

    1. Click on File and click on Options.
    2. On the left side click on “Advanced”.
    3. Scroll down to the “Display options for this workbook:”.
    4. Locate “For objects, show:”
    5. Check “All”.

    And click OK

    That should bring back the objects including charts.

    In addition, ensure that you're not typing anything inside a cell
    • paulabbott's avatar
      paulabbott
      Copper Contributor

      I have tried and retried these steps to make charts available in the Excel Workbook I am using.  It is not working.  I tried toggling the All to Nothing and then back to All to see if that would help.  Tried three times.  Still no access to charts.  Any suggestions?Abiola1 

      I noticed the entry above with Richard Weeks and Jalexy about Unprotecting and Protecting the sheet.  I tried to unprotect the worksheet and it requires a password.  I don't have the password.

      • RichardWeeks's avatar
        RichardWeeks
        Copper Contributor

        paulabbottThat sounds like it's a protected sheet then. You'll need the password. The original author of the file will hopefully have it. Find the file and right click it, then go Properties > Details ... Authors will be one of the fields in there. You can also hopefully see who last saved the file... Hopefully you can track down who in your organisation to email and get a password. Good luck!

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