Removing chart borders in Numbers 3.6

Question

Level 1

23 points

Removing chart borders in Numbers 3.6

In Numbers 3.6, charts now appear with a mandatory box around them. This is terrible design for quantitative information. I can't figure out how to turn off that box. The leading contender – Background and Border Style in the Chart sidebar – turns off the axes to the chart but the border box remains.

Anyone know how to remove this box? It makes Numbers charts look like the amateurish, janky Excel charts. It is ruining Numbers as a tool for best practices information design and presentation.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11)

Posted on Oct 19, 2015 7:21 PM

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Answer 1

ivaper

Level 1

5 points

Jan 1, 2016 1:12 PM in response to bmc atx

Hi! I've got the same problem as you. The solution is quite easy, just follow this small step-by-step guide:

1. Export you document with bordered charts into Numbers '09 format to any location.

2. Quit Numbers.

3. Open your newly created Numbers '09 file.

4. Check that the borders disappeared.

(optional) 5. Save your openned file, so Numbers.app will offer you to upgrade the file to the latest Numbers format. The newer version won't have any borders around charts.

I hope that will work for you as well!

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Answer 2

Badunit

Level 7

31,162 points

Oct 19, 2015 7:38 PM in response to bmc atx

I am not seeing this box you are talking about, except for the selection box that shows up when the chart is selected. If you have a border around the entire chart, there is a checkbox for chart borders. Select the chart, go to the Chart tab in the sidebar on the right, and it is listed under Chart Options. Is that what's up with your charts?

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Answer 3

bmc atx Author

Level 1

23 points

Oct 19, 2015 7:50 PM in response to Badunit

Thanks for the quick reply. As you can see from the attached screenshot, the checkbox for chart borders removes the axes but doesn't remove the chart borders. I'm referring to the box that bounds the Y-axis and X-axis labels and the chart. That's the box that is mysteriously appearing in Numbers charts now, at least for me.

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Answer 4

bmc atx Author

Level 1

23 points

Oct 19, 2015 7:54 PM in response to bmc atx

I may have a little more insight. I opened the document from an Excel file. When I opened a new blank Numbers file and pasted the values in, the mandatory box does not appear. This could therefore be a bug in Numbers 3.6 when opening Excel files in Numbers.

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Answer 5

Badunit

Level 7

31,162 points

Oct 20, 2015 3:05 AM in response to bmc atx

I think I see what you are talking about. I imported an Excel document with a chart and there is a border around the entire chart just as you show in your screenshot. When I add new charts, they get the same border that is uneditable and unremovable. This doesn't happen for me with a native Numbers document. I cannot figure out how to get rid of it.

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Answer 6

jonjames

Level 1

4 points

Mar 16, 2016 2:35 PM in response to ivaper

Very nice solution, and thanks - an annoying problem that is clearly due to Numbers' interaction with Excel.

In fact saving out in 09 and reopening immediately in 3.6 solved the problem - try any edit and you are asked if you want to upgrade the file - do so and the border has been banished.

The only downside would be the loss of a few 3.6 specific features - I had a conditional formatting rule based on presence of blank cells - I had to reinstate this but at least the ghastly border was no more.

It's odd that even generating new charts in the earlier 'damaged' file kept the immovable border feature!

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Answer 7

Apr 2, 2016 1:24 PM in response to ivaper

This get around works in Pages 5.6.1 as well - but honestly, why do we have to?!

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Answer 8

Barry

Level 9

60,114 points

Apr 2, 2016 3:10 PM in response to Alastair Cutting

"This get around works in Pages 5.6.1 as well - but honestly, why do we have to?!"

Because there's a bug in the import routines that keeps/creates this undeletable border?

In Numbers:

Numbers (menu) > Provide Numbers Feedback

Bug Report

Describe the bug. Include instructions on how to reproduce it.

Mention that a similar bug is found in Pages 5

Send.

In Pages:

Pages (menu) > Provide Pages Feedback

Bug Report

Describe the bug. Include instructions on how to reproduce it.

Mention that a similar bug is found in Numbers 3

Send.

If you have the time and inclination, test for a similar bug in Keynote. If found, repeat above in Keynote.

Regards,

Barry

Apple reads bug reports and other feedback, but don't expect any direct feedback or immediate results.

B

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Answer 9

Apr 2, 2016 3:52 PM in response to Barry

I already had done, but may go back and add about Numbers and Keynote.

s

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