Plot Setup: Grid Page

The Grid page allows you to customize the color, style and thickness of the grid lines and to set the number of axis divisions used. This page is not available when you are working with a pie chart.

The options on this page will vary depending on the plot style you are working with. All available options are presented below.

  • Axis Division Lines allows you to hide or show each of the axis division lines, as well as to choose a color, a thickness and a style for each.
    • To show or hide a line, select or clear the associated check box.
    • To change the color of any of the grid lines, click the Color box. The drop-down that appears allows you to choose from custom colors, web-safe colors or the colors used in the current Windows system settings. You can add colors to the Custom page by right-clicking one of the color boxes in the bottom two rows.
    • You can adjust the thickness of a grid line by entering a positive integer in the input box. A value of 1 will draw the thinnest possible line and other values such as 2, 3, etc. will draw thicker lines. Note that the size of the thinnest possible line is dependent upon your screen resolution.
    • In addition, you can change the style of each line by clicking the Line Style box to the right of the thickness box. A list providing line style options (e.g., solid, dashed, etc.) will appear. Choose the line style you want and it will appear in the Line Style box.
  • Number of Axis Divisions allows you to set the number of major and minor divisions for each axis.

Note: When you are working with a bar chart, the Grid page will contain settings for only the axis representing the dependent variable. This is affected by the orientation of your bar chart; if you are using vertical bars, this area will contain settings for the y-axis, and if you are using horizontal bars, it will contain settings for the x-axis. It is important to be aware that the settings for one axis will not transfer to the other axis when you change the bar orientation. You will need to return to this page and reenter the settings.

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