Graph ZX allows you to link to an Excel spreadsheet to load data, without needing to open the spreadsheet in Excel. You do need to have Excel installed on your machine however as Graph ZX makes use of the Excel engine (COM object).

The following steps define how to link to a spreadsheet from a graph. Create a new graph oe open a graph you would like to link to a spreadsheet and follow the steps below.

Connecting to the data.

1. Click on the Data Tab.
2. To Link to an Excel spreadsheet. Click on Link to Excel or select Tools, Link Graph to Excel from the menu.
3. Locate the Excel spreadsheet to link to by clicking on the '..' button to the right of the edit box.
   
   
   
4. Choose the spreadsheet to link to.
5. Click on Next
6. Choose the sheet name to use from the drop down list. Choose 'Age Spread of finishers by year ' from the list for this graph.
   
   
   
7. Click on next. You will notice that the sheet from the spreadsheet gets loaded for you to select the data you want. The formating of the data etc is lost as this is simply a preview of the data and will not affect the underlying sheet at all.
8. Now we are ready to select the data to graph. The top grid shows the series and names to select. You will notice that the Start Cell for X-Axis Column Names is selected. You need to show Graph ZX which cell the first X-Axis Column Name is located on. Click on Cell A2 in the Lower grid showing the Spreadsheet.
9. As you select it you will notice that the highlight block jumps to the next block in the to grid showing End Cell for X-Axis Column Names.
   
   
   
10. Now scroll the bottom grid down and find the last value for the x-Axis Labels which is Cell A60. Notice as you select it the column highlights and the number of columns in the top left of the window changes to 59 showing that's how many values have been selected. These will be the x-Axis column labels.
    
    
    
11. Now we select the first series. Notice the top grid has positioned itself on the Start Cell for Series 1 automatically after we completed the previous selection. If you made a mistake or would like to repeat a selection simply click on the cell you would like to 'do over' in the top grid and select the correct cell from the spreadsheet below.
12. Select Cell B2 as the start cell for series one and B60 for the end cell for Series one.
13. Now we want to add a second series.
14. In the 'On the Graph' box at the top right of the window increase the Series from 1 to 2. You will notice that the top grid gets an additional line for the new series.
    
    
    
15. Click on the Start Cell for the new series in the top grid and then select Cell C2 in the bottom grid.
16. Select Cell C60 as the end cell for the new series in the bottom grid.
17. Now we have selected all the cells to import. Click on Next to complete the import.
    
    
    
18. Confirm the import details and click on Finish.
    
    
    
19. Click on Yes to adjust the Graph to match the number of Series and columns you have selected in Excel.
20. Click on Refresh to refresh the graph.