Changing Axis Tick Marks (Microsoft Excel) - ExcelTips (ribbon) Right-click on the axis whose tick marks you want to change. Excel displays a Context menu for the axis. Choose Format Axis from the Context menu. (If there is no Format Axis choice, then you did not right-click on an axis in step 1.) Excel displays the Format Axis task pane. Make sure the Axis Options tab is selected. (See Figure 1.) Figure 1.