Can I put dates or times on the X axis of an X-Y plot?

Prism does not understand the concept of dates or times, so you cannot enter times or dates as X values. But you can get Prism to plot dates or times on the axis with a bit of fussing.

With Prism 4 or later, create a category graph.

Enter the dates or times as categories in the row title column.

You'll get this graph (which has been slightly edited).

Prism 3 cannot create category graphs. Use the "Custom Ticks" feature instead.

For each time plotted, enter the number of days elapsed after your reference time into the X column.

 

The default XY graph will show these values. Replace them using custom tick labels. Double click on the X axis, then choose "Custom Ticks". In this example, we replaced every other tick label to avoid overlapping. Here are the settings:

 

You'll get this graph.