Splitting an area chart vertically

[Nick_S]

Does anyone have any ideas how to split an area chart along the x - axis with a perpendicular line so that I can differentiate between historic actual figures and forward looking forecast figures - feels like it should be a really simple thing too achieve, but haven't found any solutions so far. The attached was done using drawing tools to achieve what was needed, but I'd rather it came directly out of Excel (or PowerPoint). I know I could use bar charts to achieve something similar, but as you can see from the attached I wanted to use dual y - axes to differentiate between sales and pipeline. Any thoughts would be very welcome!

 

[levipe]

I would use separate series for the historical and the forecast and then you can format them differently. The forecast series would be blank for past years and historical would be blank for future years.

 

[Nick_S]

I would use separate series for the historical and the forecast and then you can format them differently. The forecast series would be blank for past years and historical would be blank for future years.

Thanks - I tried that and will a little fiddling around with leaving gaps instead of zeros managed to get the vertical split I was looking for. I also added in extra series for the bar charts to be able to position the bar charts in a 'nice' way so that they abut the vertical uprights of the area chart. Now I just need to figure out how to get the years to align nicely (was thinking I might add in 'half' years which I then leave off the axis to help with the spacing / alignment. All this in the interests of presentation!