Modern Chart Improvements

As mentioned in the article, Current Feature Work: Monaco Editor + Modern Chart Improvements (accessforever.org), two significant new Access features are being released this Autumn. This article describes the Modern Chart Improvements feature which is being rolled out to current channel users in version 2409 build 18025.20104 released on 25 September.

The Modern Chart Improvements include:

1.   10 new chart types

Area / Radar / Arc / Box and Whisker / Bubble / Doughnut / Funnel / Scatter / Waterfall / Word Cloud

2.   Additional features with new and existing charts

• gridlines in column / bar / line / area / combo / radar / box & whisker / bubble / scatter and waterfall charts

  

  
  

• number or percentage data labels in pie / arc / doughnut charts

• a new Chart Settings Format task pane whose features depend on the chart type in use. For example:

All changes are based on a common charting framework called Ivy which has been integrated into the Access application. This will make it easier to continue adding other chart types in the future.

The Microsoft documentation has just been updated with details of the modern chart improvements. The official documentation for the Access Chart Object is still being updated.

Known Issues

The following issues have been reported to the Access team and are currently being addressed:

• Gridlines are very faint in the initial release to Current Channel. The darker grey color shown above will be added in the next 2409 update to be released in early October.

  

• Funnel charts cannot yet be sorted

  

  Sorting (ascending/descending) will be added in a future update.

  
  

• Bubble charts are currently 2-D only with the bubble size based on the Y-axis value rather than a third variable. This is under review.

  

  
  

• VBA support is not yet available for all the new chart types and features e.g. gridlines. This will be added over the next 3-4 months.

NOTE: The changes are only being implemented in Access 365.

a) For users running Access 2016/2019/2021 and 2024 (when it is released), any new chart types used will revert to the default Combo chart type.

b)  Users running Access 2013 or earlier cannot see any modern charts. The application will still run, but there will be an empty space where the modern chart is located.

For further details of the new chart types and the additional functionality with existing chart types, see Colin Riddington’s article: NEW - Modern Chart Improvements (isladogs.co.uk)