Article ID: 215573
Article Last Modified on 1/24/2007
APPLIES TO
- Microsoft Office Excel 2003
- Microsoft Excel 2002 Standard Edition
- Microsoft Excel 2000 Standard Edition
This article was previously published under Q215573
Important This article contains information about how to modify the registry. Make sure to back up the registry before you modify it. Make sure that you know how to restore the registry if a problem occurs. For more information about how to back up, restore, and modify the registry, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:
256986 Description of the Microsoft Windows registry
SYMPTOMS
When you add a chart to a workbook in Microsoft Office Excel, you may receive the following error message:
When you click OK to clear the error message, you may receive the following error message:
CAUSE
This problem occurs because of the Auto scale setting. When you add a chart to the workbook, the Auto scale setting is enabled by default. This setting causes charts to use two or more fonts instead of one. When you add multiple charts to a workbook with this setting enabled, the font limitation for a workbook may be reached. For Microsoft Excel 2000 and later, the maximum number of fonts is 512. If you add charts manually or if you copy and paste existing charts, you can reach the font limitation for a workbook. The following is an example of copying existing charts:
- You create a chart object in the worksheet.
- You copy and paste the chart object on the same worksheet ten or more times.
- You then copy the worksheet several times in the same workbook.
RESOLUTION
A registry key is available to prevent automatic font scaling for new charts. To fix existing charts, use one of the methods listed in the "Disable automatic font scaling in existing charts" section.
Prevent automatic font scaling for new charts
You can disable automatic font scaling for all new charts to prevent the workbook from exceeding the maximum number of allowable fonts through setting a registry key.
To do disable the Auto scale setting, perform the following steps:Warning Serious problems might occur if you modify the registry incorrectly by using Registry Editor or by using another method. These problems might require that you reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that these problems can be solved. Modify the registry at your own risk.
NOTE: Because there are several versions of Microsoft Windows, the following steps may be different on your computer. If they are, see your product documentation to complete these steps.
- Quit all running programs.
- Click the Start button, and then click Run.
- In the Open box, type regedit , and then click OK.
- Go to the following registry subkey (folder), depending on your version of Excel:
Excel 2003
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Excel\Options
Excel 2002
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\10.0\Excel\Options
Excel 2000
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\9.0\Excel\Options
- Point to New on the Edit menu, and then click DWORD Value. Type AutoChartFontScaling , and then press ENTER.
- Click Modify on the Edit menu. Type 0 in the Value Data box, and then click OK.
- Click Exit on the File menu to quit the Registry Editor.
After adding this registry key, all new charts created in Excel will not have the Auto scale setting selected.
Disable automatic font scaling in existing charts
Use one of the following methods to disable automatic font scaling in your existing charts.
Method 1: Disable Autoscale in each Chart
- Select a chart.
- On the Format menu, click Selected Chart Area.
- Click the Font tab.
- Click to clear the Autoscale check box.
- Click OK.
- Repeat these steps for each chart in your workbook.
Method 2: Programmatically disable Auto scale on all existing charts in the workbook
Microsoft provides programming examples for illustration only, without warranty either expressed or implied. This includes, but is not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. This article assumes that you are familiar with the programming language that is being demonstrated and with the tools that are used to create and to debug procedures. Microsoft support engineers can help explain the functionality of a particular procedure, but they will not modify these examples to provide added functionality or construct procedures to meet your specific requirements. To programmatically disable Auto scale on all existing charts in a workbook, please do the following steps:
- Start Excel and open the file that is causing the error message.
- In the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Visual Basic Editor (or press ALT+F11).
- In the Visual Basic Editor, select Module from the Insert menu.
Type or paste the following code in the module:
Sub AutoScale_Off() Dim ws As Worksheet, co As ChartObject, i As Integer Dim ch As Chart For Each ws In ActiveWorkbook.Worksheets ' Go through each worksheet in the workbook For Each co In ws.ChartObjects 'In each chart turn the Auto Scale font feature off i = i + 1 co.Chart.ChartArea.AutoScaleFont = False Next co Next ws For Each ch In ActiveWorkbook.Charts 'Go through each chart in the workbook ch.ChartArea.AutoScaleFont = False i = i + 1 Next MsgBox i & " charts have been altered" Application.DisplayAlerts = True End Sub- Click anywhere in the code of function AutoScale_Off, and then click Run Sub/UserForm on the Run menu. After the macro runs, you should be able to insert a chart without error.
Additional query words: XL2000 XL2002 XL2003
Keywords: kbchart kberrmsg kbprb kbpending KB215573
