ggplot theme similar to current Excel plot defaults

Theme for ggplot2 that is similar to the default style of charts in current versions of Microsoft Excel.

Usage

theme_excel_new(base_size = 9, base_family = "sans")

Arguments

base_size: base font size, given in pts.
base_family: base font family

Value

An object of class ggplot2::theme().

Details

Excel derives its chart grays from the theme's tx1 color by luminance transform rather than hardcoding them. Since tx1 is black in every built-in Office theme, these grays—"#D9D9D9" gridlines, "#BFBFBF" axis lines, "#595959" text—are the same whichever theme scale_colour_excel_new() is set to.

Since 2023 the default font in Excel has been Aptos, but base_family defaults to "sans" because Aptos is rarely installed outside of Office. Pass base_family = "Aptos Narrow" for a closer match if you do have it.

Examples

library("ggplot2")

p <- ggplot(mtcars) +
  geom_point(aes(x = wt, y = mpg, colour = factor(gear))) +
  facet_wrap(~am)
p + theme_excel_new() + scale_colour_excel_new()