Why are my graphs showing up blank in Excel?

All of my Excel 2003 chart tabs are showing up as blank. This includes both newly created chart tabs and chart tabs in existing spreadsheets, as well as both pivot table charts and regular charts.

Screenshot:

Oddly, charts that are on a regular worksheet tab show up fine -- only charts in their own tab are affected.

I've run Excel Diagnostics and they found no problems.

I have verified that Excel Options > Advanced > Display Option > Objects is set to All for each of the spreadsheets.

How do I make chart tabs work again?

If there are some blank cells in a list, the relative chart of the list will be shown as below screenshot which is not pleasing to the eye. In this article, I will talk about how to skip the blank cells while creating a chart in Excel.

Display blanks as zero in chart

Skip blanks in chart

Display blanks as zero in chart

To display blank cells as zeros in chart, you just need to check an option after creating the chart.

1. After creating the chart by the values, right click at the chart and click Select data form the popped context menu. See screenshot:

2. Then in the Select Data Source dialog, click Hidden and Empty Cells, and in the Hidden and Empty Cells Settings dialog, check Zero option. See screenshot:

3. Click OK > OK to close dialogs, and the blank cells have been displayed as zeros. See screenshot:

Skip blanks in chart

To skip blanks directly in a chart, you need a formula before creating the chart.

1. Select a blank cell next to the values you want to create chart by, and type this formula =IF(ISBLANK(B2),#N/A,B2), B2 is the cell you use, and drag auto fill handle down to the cells you need to apply this formula. See screenshot:

2. Then keep the formula cells selected, click Insert tab, and insert a chart as you need in the Charts group. See screenshot:

Then the blank cells have been ignored in the chart.

Tip: If you usually use complex charts in Excel, which will be troublesome as you create them very time, here with the Auto Text tool of Kutools for Excel, you just need to create the charts at first time, then add the charts in the AutoText pane, then, you can reuse them in anywhere anytime, what you only need to do is change the references to match your real need.  Click for free download it now.

Comments (4)

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1. 01-01-2011, 12:08 PM #1

   I have just finished dealing with a virus issue (I think) on my computer and Excel was left not displaying charts. Not certain that the virus issue was related to the Excel issue but the bottom line is that for some reason, Excel will not display charts. The data is still there and I can select data and attempt to "insert" a chart but the chart will not work and display. I have loaded older files and the charts do not display on those files either.

   Any idea?

2. 01-01-2011, 12:25 PM #2

   Hello & Welcome to the Board,

   My first thought is to reload Excel!

3. 01-01-2011, 12:33 PM #3

   I did reload Excel and that did not work. Any other thoughts?

4. 01-01-2011, 12:39 PM #4

   Not really...

   

   With this attachment...if you hightlight the range of data and select F11 you say nothing is happening?

   
   Attached Files
   • 
     Book1.xlsx‎ (7.4 KB, 8 views) Download

5. 01-01-2011, 12:55 PM #5

   highlighted the range of data, pressed F11, excel acted like it wanted to create the chart, went to the chart tools but no chart is displayed. Nothing is displayed, the size was down at 10%, increased it to 100% but still nothing. Just a blank page. Checked the excel options, and also looked for disabled units, nothing.

6. 01-01-2011, 01:03 PM #6

   I'm sorry but don't really know what to suggest from here

   

   Maybe you could go out and enjoy a nice round of golf

   

   but then again if you played like me it wouldn't be so nice

7. 01-01-2011, 01:22 PM #7

   I will say that when I re-loaded excel, I didn't specifically re-load excel. I used the orignal Microsoft Office disk and when I loaded the disk into my drive it "refreshed" or "renewed' (forget the eact term that was used) but the upshot was that Office went through its routine and returned: "software refreshed" or something like that. What about removing Excel and then re-installing? That's the only thing I haven't done.

8. 01-01-2011, 01:27 PM #8

   That is where it seems I might go, good luck

9. 01-01-2011, 05:19 PM #9

   I uninstalled Excel and re-installed it from the original Microsoft disk, no help. Still won't display charts. I then took some spreadsheets to my other computer and that machine displayed charts pefectly. So, something has happened to the Excel setup that prevents it from displaying charts. Do you have any ideas where else I could go for help. Some of the online help sites are very expensive. I don't mind paying a reasonable price for help, but $59 for a "possible" answer to ONE question seems steep to me.

10. 01-01-2011, 06:27 PM #10

    Honestly no other ideas. Since the post count is up to 10 already for this thread, most people will probably skip it because they believe it is under control. However, in this case, maybe start a new thread and link to this thread asking for further guidance if nobody responds here. I promise I won't try to answer it this time.

    Sorry you haven't found a solution so far.

11. 01-01-2011, 08:45 PM #11

    I am re-posting this thread since I didn't find a solution earlier

    

    . Below is the original posting but I have since tried various fixes and none have worked. If you have a suggestion or solution, I would appreciate the help. I have un-installed and re-installed Microsoft Office but that did not work. Seems like it should have because a complete re-install should re-configure Excel to its original installation. I also tested another computer and it does open files and display charts that my current machine won't. In fact the files on my downstairs computer that won't display charts are displayed perfectly on my upstairs computer. I would appreciate any help or suggestions or even any other sites that might be able to help. Thanks.

    I have just finished dealing with a virus issue (I think) on my computer and Excel was left not displaying charts. Not certain that the virus issue was related to the Excel issue but the bottom line is that for some reason, Excel will not display charts. The data is still there and I can select data and attempt to "insert" a chart but the chart will not work and display. I have loaded older files and the charts do not display on those files either.

12. 01-14-2011, 08:38 AM #12

    You have a problem with printer and a bug in excel - was looking for answer and found it: "I had a similar issue with charts not displaying in excel 2007 when I opened a file that I had been working on the night before. None of my charts would display at all. With a quick Google search, I discovered that this is a bug in excel 2007 and all you need to do to see the chart/graph again is to go to PRINT PREVIEW and then close out of PRINT PREVIEW and the chart/graph will "magically" appear. It worked for me!! Hope this is the fix for you." Source:

    http://www.eggheadcafe.com/software/...new-sheet.aspx

    hope it helps, it helped me