Graphs in Illustrator

[Helena28273452awqt]

Hi everyone

I'm having a frustrating time understanding the graph tool in Illustrator. I have 70 graphs to create from excel data for an InDesign report, very little time. 
I follow the instructions, i have a clear sample of the chart i need, yet the chart i get in Illustrator makes no sense. I transpose the rows and columns, still no luck. 
Where can i get clearer instructions on how to solve my problem?

[Doug A Roberts]

You're getting the years as an unnamed data point in each set.

[Helena28273452awqt]

Thank you for this input. I'm not sure how to fix it, would you have ideas?

[Doug A Roberts]

I can get somewhat close with this layout:

Unfortunately it doesn't seem to be possible to get Illustrator to treat the years as strings instead of numbers (hence the label). You may need to retype them after setting the data.

Given the unfortunate state of the tool in Illustrator it's probably worth rethinking if you need to do this.

[Kurt Gold]

Doug,

"2025" = 2025

[Doug A Roberts]

Doug,

"2025" = 2025

By @Kurt Gold

Of course! This layout then:

[Helena28273452awqt · Accepted solution]

Thank you both, Doug and Kurt. I've since moved on and created the graphs in powerpoint, to export as a pdf and place one-by-one in InDesign. 70 graphs just is too many to have to fiddle around in Illustrator, as much as I'd love to make it work.