• Article

How to: Add Scale Breaks to a Chart

A scale break is a stripe drawn across the plotting area of a chart to denote a break in continuity between the high and low values on a value axis. Use a scale break to display two distinct ranges in the same chart area.

Chart with scale break

Note

You cannot specify where to place a scale break on your chart. The chart uses its own calculations based on the values in your dataset to determine whether there is sufficient separation between data ranges to draw a scale break on the value axis (y-axis) at run time.

To enable scale breaks on the chart

  1. Right-click the value axis and then click Axis Properties. The Axis Properties dialog box opens.

  2. Select the Enable scale breaks check box.

To change the style of the scale break

  1. Open the Properties pane.

  2. On the design surface, right-click on the y-axis of the chart. The properties for the y-axis object (named Chart Axis by default) are displayed in the Properties pane.

  3. In the Scale section, expand the ScaleBreakStyle property.

  4. Change the values for ScaleBreakStyle properties, such as BreakLineType and Spacing. For more information about scale break properties, see Displaying a Series with Multiple Data Ranges on a Chart.