Move X-Axis to the Bottom of a Graph in Excel

Sometimes when we create a graph in Excel, and the Y-axis has both positive and negative values, the X-axis appears in the middle instead of at the bottom of the chart as we would ordinarily want it. The following example graph has the X-axis in the middle of the graph instead of at the bottom:

This tutorial uses the example graph above to show two techniques for moving the X-axis to the bottom of a chart in Excel.

Method #1: Move X-axis to the Bottom of the Graph by Changing the Horizontal Axis Value

We can move the X-axis to the bottom of the graph by changing the value of the horizontal axis.

Suppose we have the following graph with the X-axis in the middle of the chart.

We want to move the X-axis to the bottom of the graph by adjusting the value of the horizontal axis.

We can move the X-axis to the bottom of the graph using the following steps:

1. Select the chart we want to modify.
2. Right-click the Y-axis and choose Format Axis on the shortcut menu that appears.

1. Select the Axis value option on the Format Axis pane on the right of the Excel window and type the value -40 in the box next to it.

The X-axis is moved to the bottom of the graph.

1. Press Ctrl + S or click the Save button on the Quick Access Toolbar to save the changes.

Method #2: Move X-axis to the Bottom of the Graph by Moving the Position of the Labels

In Excel, we can move the X-axis to the bottom of a graph by changing the position of the X-axis labels.

Presume we have the following Excel graph with the X-axis in the middle of the chart rather than at the bottom.

We want to move the X-axis to the bottom of the graph using the Format Axis pane.

We use the below steps:

1. Select the graph we want to adjust.
2. Right-click the X-axis and select Format Axis on the shortcut menu that appears.

1. Select Labels on the Format Axis pane on the right of the Excel window.

1. Open the Label Position drop-down and select Low.

The labels of the X-axis are moved to the bottom of the graph.

1. Press Ctrl + S or click the Save button on the Quick Access Toolbar to save the changes.

Conclusion

This tutorial showed two methods for moving the X-axis to the bottom of a graph in Excel. We hope you found the tutorial helpful.