Excel 07 charts: The Good and the oh so BAD...

Excel 2007 charting is absolutely delightful. The color splashes are beautiful, fresh, and just COOL! I couldn't wait to get started using them, afterall it was the main reason I upgraded to the 07 package.

And then I discovered a "teensy little problem". Ugh.
My file sizes were gigantic. Even if I saved them as .pdf's, they were still un-mailable, often breaching the 3 mb size, which is just rude. After a few tests, I finally solved the mystery of the ballooning file size...

The problem is that Excel 07 charts use gradient colors on each data point. So even when I opened them in my trusty Excel 03, the large file size remained. After running tests on colors, the "only" solution was take the charts back to a uniform flat color. No gradients allowed if the desired result is small file or .pdf size.

I'll still use the 07 charts because they are SO COOL! But I won't get fancy if the final result needs to be a small file size.

Happy Clicking!
Andy Lanning, Chief Nerd

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