Charts are Not Showing in Excel

Sometimes all or some Excel charts in the workbook may not show or become blank.

This can be frustrating when you can’t figure out what caused the problem. This tutorial explains two reasons Excel charts may not show and how to fix the problem.

Reason #1: Display Option for Objects has Been Set to Nothing

If the workbook’s display option for objects has been set to Nothing, where all objects are hidden, charts are also hidden because they are objects.

To have the charts displayed in the workbook, do the following:

  1. Click File to open the Backstage window.
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  1. Select Options on the left sidebar of the Backstage window.
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  1. Select the Advanced category on the left sidebar of the Excel Options dialog box.
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  1. Scroll down to the section “Display options for this workbook:” Select the For objects, show All option and click OK.

If the charts in the workbook had been hidden, they will show again.

Reason #2: The Source Data is Hidden

If the source data for the Excel chart is hidden, the chart becomes blank. To display the chart, do the following:

  1. Right-click the blank chart and choose Select Data on the shortcut menu that appears.
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  1. On the Select Data Source dialog box, click the Hidden and Empty Cells button.
  1. On the Hidden and Empty Cell Settings dialog box, select Show empty cells as Gaps and Show data in hidden rows and columns options and click OK.
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  1. Click OK on the Select Data Source dialog box that is still open.

The blank chart becomes populated with data series and other chart elements.

Conclusion

This tutorial has explained two reasons for charts not showing in workbooks and how to resolve the issue. We hope you found the tutorial helpful.

Tomasz Decker is an Excel specialist, skilled in data analysis and financial modeling.