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C
chrisn56831138
Participant
December 13, 2019
Frage

Retain formatting when updating a chart?

  • December 13, 2019
  • 2 Antworten
  • 1738 Ansichten

I'm trying to set up a pie chart template for a series of projects, and basically have a set of identical charts on one page. Whenever I update the data on a chart, the label formatting is lost. If I add or remove any of the data columns on the pie chart, I lose both the color formats and the label formats. How can I reuse an existing pie chart so that all I have to do is update the data without constantly messing with the label formats?

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    2 Antworten

    Kurt Gold
    Community Expert
    Kurt GoldCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    December 13, 2019

    Which version of Illustrator are you using?

     

    Can you provide a sample .ai file?

    C
    chrisn56831138Autor
    Participant
    December 13, 2019

    CC 2020. I'd be happy to provide a sample file, but I'm not sure how to attach here... (brand new to the forum!)

    Kurt Gold
    Community Expert
    Kurt GoldCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    December 13, 2019

    Unless nothing has changed, you would have to use one of the common file sharing providers (e.g. Google Drive) in order to share your file.

    Bill Silbert
    Community Expert
    Bill SilbertCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    December 13, 2019

    This has been a problem with the graph feature ever since it first appeared in the 1990s (it has not—as far as I know—been updated since then). There is just so much customization you can do to the graphs before the situation you describe occurs—you lose the formatting when you change the data. You will also note that since the feature is so old many of the later features do not work with it. 

    What I have always done to deal with this is to keep a duplicate of the graph that is unstroked, unfilled and unformatted in the file. Then when I need a change I apply the new data to the unformatted duplicate and then use that as a template with which I can manually alter the styled graph to show the correct data points. It is not a pretty workaround but it is still better then reformatting a graph entirely when I need to change data points.

    C
    chrisn56831138Autor
    Participant
    December 13, 2019

    Shoot. I was hoping this was just some trick I didn't know. I'm frustrated with Excel's graphing capabilities and like what I can do in Illustrator, but it's not going to be helpful if it means redoing the charts each time. Back to the drawing board, I guess. Thanks for the response!

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