The axis units in a chart in Excel 2007 adjust at different chart heights than in Excel 2003

In Microsoft Office Excel 2007, the major scale axis units, the minor scale axis units, and the maximum scale axis units adjust at different chart heights than in Microsoft Office Excel 2003. Therefore, charts may not have a uniform appearance when you convert an Excel 2003 chart to Excel 2007.

Service pack information

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for the 2007 Microsoft Office suites.
For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Hotfix information

How to obtain the hotfix

This issue is fixed in the Excel 2007 hotfix package that is dated June 4, 2007. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

How to enable the hotfix

Important This section, method, or task contains steps that tell you how to modify the registry. However, serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly. Therefore, make sure that you follow these steps carefully. For added protection, back up the registry before you modify it. Then, you can restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up and restore the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

To enable the hotfix, you must create a registry key. To enable this hotfix and to lock the axis units when you convert an Excel 2003 chart to Excel 2007, follow these steps:

1. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
2. Click the following registry key:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\12.0\Common\Charting
3. Right-click the registry key that is specified in step 2, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
4. Type LockScaleValuesWhenConvert2003, and then press ENTER.
5. Right-click LockScaleValuesWhenConvert2003, and then click Modify.
6. In the Value data box, type 1, and then click OK.
7. Exit Registry Editor.

To use same values when you convert an Excel 2003 chart to Excel 2007, set the scale axis units to Fixed instead of Auto when you modify the chart in Excel 2007. To do this, follow these steps:

1. Right-click the Y-axis on the chart, and then click Format Axis.
2. Click Fixed, and then click to select the following options that you want:
   • Minimum
   • Maximum
   • Major unit
   • Minor unit
3. Click Close.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section.