How "long" can a SERIES statement be?

**krazykat** · 06-09-2010, 11:21 AM

Question about the number of characters or length of a data series statement. I am trying to make a data series by clicking on the spreadsheet cells for the category and value points. After I select 13 category and 13 value cells ( total of 26 “entries into the SERIES statement, I am unable to select any additional pairs.

The series plots OK, as expected, but I can not include all the data. If you look at the SERIES statement in the expression bar, it is very long, containing a lot of characters because each category and value point is linked.

The error appears to say there is a maximum number of “characters” that a SERIES statement can contain. My SERIES statement has approximately 380 characters ( I did not do an exact count).

I am using Excel 2003, SP3 on WIN XP PRO

Any comments or information would be appreciated.

Thanks

**romperstomper** · 06-09-2010, 11:34 AM

You are limited to a formula length of about 1024 characters. I suspect you may be running into a limit on how many arguments it will take how are you entering the ranges in the SERIES formula?

**krazykat** · 06-09-2010, 06:40 PM

Thanks for the quick reply. To enter the data points I: select chart in worksheet, select chart from menu, Source Data, Series. Then select Category (X) axis labels and click to open small window to select work sheet cells. Cells I need to use are not next to each other, so I select the first cell, hold down Ctrl key select second cell, third cell, etc. I do the same procedure for “Values”. Here is a copy of the current SERIES formula, containing 12 ea, X, Y pairs. I do not seem to be able to add additional pairs. I need to have about 18-20 pairs. I have atached a screen shot of the SERIES and the graph with the series highlighted.

Thanks

SERIES("London",('HEMI EIRP'!$D$3,'HEMI EIRP'!$S$3,'HEMI EIRP'!$AH$3,'HEMI EIRP'!$AW$3,'HEMI EIRP'!$BL$3,'HEMI EIRP'!$CA$3,'HEMI EIRP'!$CP$3,'HEMI EIRP'!$DE$3,'HEMI EIRP'!$DT$3,'HEMI EIRP'!$EI$3,'HEMI EIRP'!$EX$3,'HEMI EIRP'!$FM$3),('HEMI EIRP'!$D$16,'HEMI EIRP'!$S$16,'HEMI EIRP'!$AH$16,'HEMI EIRP'!$AW$16,'HEMI EIRP'!$BL$16,'HEMI EIRP'!$CA$16,'HEMI EIRP'!$CP$16,'HEMI EIRP'!$DE$16,'HEMI EIRP'!$DT$16,'HEMI EIRP'!$EI$16,'HEMI EIRP'!$EX$16,'HEMI EIRP'!$FM$16),1)

**Andy Pope** · 06-10-2010, 04:03 AM

Use some cells on a spare part of the worksheet, or even a new worksheet.

Create contiguous ranges of chart data using either formula, references or VBA