XL2000: Layout of Vertical X-Axis Labels in Column Chart Is Distorted When Copied to Clipboard

When you copy a column chart to the Clipboard, and the chart contains vertical x-axis labels, the Clipboard shows line breaks in the labels that were not in the original chart, and the label text may become unreadable.

This problem occurs when all of the following conditions are true:

• Arabic language support is enabled in Microsoft Office.
  
  -and-
  
  
• The chart labels contain numbers or special Latin letters, such as umlauts or accented letters.

To work around this problem, use any of the following methods.

Method 1: Try a Different Font

Try to find a font that does not cause the problem in a given chart. Sometimes, one font causes the problem, but another one does not.

The behavior may depend upon the size of the chart, metrics of the individual font, and so on. For instance, bitmap fonts such as MS Sans Serif do not cause the problem, but they do not scale and print as well as TrueType fonts.

Method 2: Use Text Boxes Instead of Labels

Instead of using automatically generated labels, use text boxes that you put into the chart manually, or by means of a macro.

Method 3: Copy the Chart as a Bitmap Picture

Use the Copy Picture command to copy the chart as a bitmap picture. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Select the chart.
2. Hold down SHIFT, and click Copy Picture on the Edit menu. (The Copy Picture command is only available when you hold down SHIFT.)
3. Under Appearance, click As shown on screen. Under Format, click Bitmap. Click OK.

Excel copies the chart as a bitmap picture to the Clipboard. The drawback of this method is that bitmaps do not scale well and may not look good when printed.

Method 4: Save the Workbook as a Web Page

If you save the workbook as a Web page, Excel exports a picture of the chart as a Graphics Interchange Format (GIF) file, which you can then import into Microsoft Word or Microsoft PowerPoint. (You can also automate this process by using a macro.)

This method is similar to method 3, because GIF is also a bitmap format and does not scale well.

Method 5: Turn Off Arabic Language Support

If your file contains no Arabic text (only Latin letters), turn off Arabic language support, restart Excel, and copy the picture. You can then turn Arabic language support back on. This method is time-consuming, but provides the highest quality picture.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed at the beginning of this article.

Steps to Reproduce the Problem

1. Click Start, point to Programs, point to Microsoft Office Tools, and then click Microsoft Office Language Settings.
2. Click the Enabled Languages tab. If the Arabic check box is not selected, click to select it. If it is selected, click to clear it, and then click to select it again. Click OK.
3. When you are prompted for your preferred language in Microsoft Excel and Microsoft Access, select Arabic and click OK.
4. Start Excel.
5. Type the following data in the worksheet:

      A1: Label 1
      A2: Label 2
      A3: Label 3
      A4: Label 4
   					

6. Type some numbers in cells B1:C4.
7. Select A1:C4.
8. On the Insert menu, click Chart.
9. Under Chart type, click Column. Click Next.
10. Under Series in, click Columns. Click Finish.
11. Right-click the x-axis on the chart, and then click Format Axis on the shortcut menu.
12. On the Alignment tab, set the orientation to 90 degrees, and click OK.
    
    Each tick mark on the x-axis now has one line of vertical text next to it.
13. Select the chart.
14. Press CTRL+C to copy the chart to the Clipboard.
15. Paste the chart into Microsoft Word, or view the chart in the Clipboard Viewer.

Note that the text on the labels has changed. A line break now appears before each number, so that each label text spans two lines.