MAC OS - compress chart to eliminate zero values

[John_Fletcher]

NOTE: MAC OS. I've found multiple answers for Windows, but they don't work on Mac.

In my data I enter only the dates for which there are values.

The chart plots those values and leaves space for all the dates for which there no values. What I want is a chart that plots only the dates for which I have values. So for example if there is a value for September 8 and the next value is for September 27, plot values for both of those dates, and place them directly adjacent to each other without leaving space for all the dates in between.

In other words, I want a chart that looks like the first image, not like the second image.

The chart leaves space for all the dates for which there is no data. I don't want this to happen.

[#2 · Accepted solution]

@John_Fletcher Not sure which solutions you found for Windows.  When you work with real dates, Excel's built-in date intelligence spaces out dates on a time-line, giving you dates on the X-axis with no data points. That is true for both Windows and Mac.

If you don't want that you need to work with text labels that look like dates as shown in the attached file. And this is true also for Windows and Mac. But perhaps I haven't come across all chart related 'Windows only' features yet.

[#3]

@Riny_van_Eekelen 

I guess that is like

10 and 12 of July are to be skipped on chart even if they are in source table.

[#4]

@Riny_van_Eekelen 

Thank you. This is the answer. I had already selected the column as "text," but it turns out that "text" can me made to function either as "text" or "date." I switched the latter setting and all works great now.
Thanks.