One of the most bothersome problems for a scientific/engineering application in excel is that there aren't enough markers to go around for a scatter plot. The easiest way to get around this is to make your own. This discussion was implemented in Excel 2007
First you need to draw your own symbols and save them as gif, or png files. This can be done with a variety of packages including Inkscape (free!) or MSPaint. I did mine with Inkscape. Just draw a polygon (say a hexagon) with thick lines (2 pt or thicker). Then save/export the symbol to a .gif or .png file. You may want to make up a bunch of these and give them clever names like hex2pt.png or inverttri3pt.gif so that you can remember later.
In Excel, build your chart like always, then if you need a custom symbol do this:
1. Use built-in marker option for a square (it's symbol size will dictate your symbol size)
2. Go to Marker Line Color and select "No Color"
3. Go to Marker Fill and select "Picture or Texture fill"
4. Get the file that has your favorite polygon (like hex2.png)
5. Click on Insert and you got it.
6. Note: you need to select the square marker as your marker otherwise your custom symbol will be clipped off.
You can generate an infinite (well, nearly infinite) number of symbols this way. The size of the symbol is goverened by the size of the "square" marker you selected in step 1.
Hope this is helpful
First you need to draw your own symbols and save them as gif, or png files. This can be done with a variety of packages including Inkscape (free!) or MSPaint. I did mine with Inkscape. Just draw a polygon (say a hexagon) with thick lines (2 pt or thicker). Then save/export the symbol to a .gif or .png file. You may want to make up a bunch of these and give them clever names like hex2pt.png or inverttri3pt.gif so that you can remember later.
In Excel, build your chart like always, then if you need a custom symbol do this:
1. Use built-in marker option for a square (it's symbol size will dictate your symbol size)
2. Go to Marker Line Color and select "No Color"
3. Go to Marker Fill and select "Picture or Texture fill"
4. Get the file that has your favorite polygon (like hex2.png)
5. Click on Insert and you got it.
6. Note: you need to select the square marker as your marker otherwise your custom symbol will be clipped off.
You can generate an infinite (well, nearly infinite) number of symbols this way. The size of the symbol is goverened by the size of the "square" marker you selected in step 1.
Hope this is helpful
