Build chart in excel

Any information is easier to perceive when it’s represented in a visual form. It’s particularly relevant for numeric data that needs to be compared. In this case, charts are the optimal variant of representation. We will work in Excel.

Moreover, we will learn to create dynamic charts and graphs, which are updated automatically when you change the data. The link at the end of the article will allow you to download a sample template.



How to build a chart off a table in Excel?

1. Create a table with the data.



2. Select the range of values A1:B5 that need to be presented as a chart. Go to the «INSERT» tab and choose the type.



3. Click «Insert Column Chart» (as an example; you may choose a different type). Select one of the suggested bar charts.



4. After you choose your bar chart type, it will be generated automatically.
5. Such a variant isn’t exactly what we need, so let’s modify it. Double-click on the bar chart’s title and enter «Total Amounts».



6. Add the vertical axis title. Go to «CHART TOOLS» — «DESIGN» — «Add Element» — «Axis Titles» — «Primary Vertical». Select the vertical axis and its title type.



7. Enter «AMOUNT».
8. Change the color and style. Choose a different style number 9.



9. Specify the sums by giving titles to the bars. Go to the «DESIGN» tab, select «Data Labels» and the desired position.

Done!

As a result, we have a stylish presentation of the data in Excel.



How to add data in an Excel chart?

1. Add new values to the table – the «Plan» column.



2. Select the new range of values, including the heading. Copy it to the clipboard (by pressing Ctrl+C). Select the existing chart and paste the fragment (by pressing Ctrl+V).
3. As it’s not entirely clear where the figures in our bar chart come from, let’s create the legend. Go to «DESIGN» — «Legend» — «Right». This is the result:

There is a more complicated way of adding new data into the existing graph through the «DESIGN» «Select Data» menu (open it by right-clicking and selecting «Select Data»).

After you click «Add» (legend elements), there will open the row for selecting the range of values.

How to reverse axes in an Excel chart?

In the menu you’ve opened, click the «DESIGN»-«Switch/Column» button.

The values for rows and categories will swap around automatically.

How to lock controls in an Excel chart?

If you need to add new data in the bar chart very often, it’s not convenient to change the range every time. The optimal variant is to create a dynamic chart that will update automatically. To lock the controls, let’s transform the data range into a «Smart Table».

1. Select the range of values A1:C5 and click «Format as Table» on «HOME» tab.



2. Select any style in the drop-down menu. The program suggests you select the range for the table – agree with the suggested variant. The values for the graph will appear as follows:



3. As soon as you begin to enter new information in the table, the chart will also change. It has become dynamic:

We have learned how to create a «Smart Table» off the existing data. If the spreadsheet is blank, start off with entering the values in the table: «INSERT» — «Table».

How to build a percentage chart in Excel?

Pie charts are the best option for representing percentage information.

The input data for our sample chart:

1. Select the range A1:B8. «INSERT» — «Insert Pie or Doughnut Chart» — «3D-Pie».



2. Go to the tab «DESIGN» — «Styles». Among the suggested options, there are styles that include percentages. Choose the suitable 9.



3. The small percentage sectors are visible poorly. To highlight them, let’s create a secondary chart. Select the pie. Go to the tab «DESIGN» — «Change Chart Type». Select a pie with a secondary graph.



4. The automatically generated option does not fulfill the task. Right-click on any sector. The dots designating the boundaries will become visible. Click «Format Data Series». Enter the following row parameters:



5. We have obtained the desired variant:

Gantt chart in Excel

The Gantt chart is way of representing information in the form of bars to illustrate a multi-stage event. It’s a simple yet impressive trick.

1. We have a (dummy) table containing the deadlines for different reports.



2. To create a chart, insert a column containing the number of days (column C). Fill it in with the help of Excel formulas.
3. Select the range to contain the Gantt chart (E3:BF12). That is, the cells to be filled with a color between the beginning and end dates.
4. Open the «Conditional Formatting» menu (on the «HOME» tab). Select «New Rule» — «Use a formula to determine which cells to format».



5. Enter the formula of the following type: =AND(E$2>=$B3,E$2<=$D3). Excel uses the operator «И» to compare the date in the current cell with the beginning and end dates. Then, click «Format» and select the fill color.

When you need to build a presentable financial report, it’s better to use the graphical data representation tools.

A simple Gantt graph is ready. You can also download the template with a sample:

Download all examples

If the information is represented in a graphical way, it’s perceived visually much quicker and more efficiently than texts and numbers. It makes it easier to conduct an analytic analysis. It makes the situation clearer – both the whole picture and particular details.

Charts and graphs were specifically developed in Excel for fulfilling such tasks.

After you input your data and select the cell range, you’re ready to choose the chart type. In this example, we’ll create a clustered column chart from the data we used in the previous section.

Step 1: Select Chart Type

Once your data is highlighted in the Workbook, click the Insert tab on the top banner. About halfway across the toolbar is a section with several chart options. Excel provides Recommended Charts based on popularity, but you can click any of the dropdown menus to select a different template.

Step 2: Create Your Chart

1. From the Insert tab, click the column chart icon and select Clustered Column.

​

1. Excel will automatically create a clustered chart column from your selected data. The chart will appear in the center of your workbook.
2. To name your chart, double click the Chart Title text in the chart and type a title. We’ll call this chart “Product Profit 2013 — 2017.”

​

We’ll use this chart for the rest of the walkthrough. You can download this same chart to follow along.

Download Sample Column Chart Template

There are two tabs on the toolbar that you will use to make adjustments to your chart: Chart Design and Format. Excel automatically applies design, layout, and format presets to charts and graphs, but you can add customization by exploring the tabs. Next, we’ll walk you through all the available adjustments in Chart Design.

Step 3: Add Chart Elements

Adding chart elements to your chart or graph will enhance it by clarifying data or providing additional context. You can select a chart element by clicking on the Add Chart Element dropdown menu in the top left-hand corner (beneath the Home tab).

To Display or Hide Axes:

1. Select Axes. Excel will automatically pull the column and row headers from your selected cell range to display both horizontal and vertical axes on your chart (Under Axes, there is a check mark next to Primary Horizontal and Primary Vertical.)

   

2. Uncheck these options to remove the display axis on your chart. In this example, clicking Primary Horizontal will remove the year labels on the horizontal axis of your chart.

   

3. Click More Axis Options… from the Axes dropdown menu to open a window with additional formatting and text options such as adding tick marks, labels, or numbers, or to change text color and size.

   

    

To Add Axis Titles:

1. Click Add Chart Element and click Axis Titles from the dropdown menu. Excel will not automatically add axis titles to your chart; therefore, both Primary Horizontal and Primary Vertical will be unchecked.

   

2. To create axis titles, click Primary Horizontal or Primary Vertical and a text box will appear on the chart. We clicked both in this example. Type your axis titles. In this example, the we added the titles “Year” (horizontal) and “Profit” (vertical).

   

To Remove or Move Chart Title:

• Click Add Chart Element and click Chart Title. You will see four options: None, Above Chart, Centered Overlay, and More Title Options.

  

• Click None to remove chart title.
• Click Above Chart to place the title above the chart. If you create a chart title, Excel will automatically place it above the chart.
• Click Centered Overlay to place the title within the gridlines of the chart. Be careful with this option: you don’t want the title to cover any of your data or clutter your graph (as in the example below).

To Add Data Labels:

1. Click Add Chart Element and click Data Labels. There are six options for data labels: None (default), Center, Inside End, Inside Base, Outside End, and More Data Label Title Options.

   

2. The four placement options will add specific labels to each data point measured in your chart. Click the option you want. This customization can be helpful if you have a small amount of precise data, or if you have a lot of extra space in your chart. For a clustered column chart, however, adding data labels will likely look too cluttered. For example, here is what selecting Center data labels looks like:

   

To Add a Data Table: 

1. Click Add Chart Element and click Data Table. There are three pre-formatted options along with an extended menu that can be found by clicking More Data Table Options:

   

Note: If you choose to include a data table, you’ll probably want to make your chart larger to accommodate the table. Simply click the corner of your chart and use drag-and-drop to resize your chart.

To Add Error Bars:

1. Click Add Chart Element and click Error Bars. In addition to More Error Bars Options, there are four options: None (default), Standard Error, 5% (Percentage), and Standard Deviation. Adding error bars provide a visual representation of the potential error in the shown data, based on different standard equations for isolating error.

   

2. For example, when we click Standard Error from the options we get a chart that looks like the image below.

   

 To Add Gridlines:

1. Click Add Chart Element and click Gridlines. In addition to More Grid Line Options, there are four options: Primary Major Horizontal, Primary Major Vertical, Primary Minor Horizontal, and Primary Minor Vertical. For a column chart, Excel will add Primary Major Horizontal gridlines by default.

   

2. You can select as many different gridlines as you want by clicking the options. For example, here is what our chart looks like when we click all four gridline options.

To Add a Legend:  

1. Click Add Chart Element and click Legend. In addition to More Legend Options, there are five options for legend placement: None, Right, Top, Left, and Bottom.

   

2. Legend placement will depend on the style and format of your chart. Check the option that looks best on your chart. Here is our chart when we click the Right legend placement.

   

To Add Lines: Lines are not available for clustered column charts. However, in other chart types where you only compare two variables, you can add lines (e.g. target, average, reference, etc.) to your chart by checking the appropriate option.

To Add a Trendline:

1. Click Add Chart Element and click Trendline. In addition to More Trendline Options, there are five options: None (default), Linear, Exponential, Linear Forecast, and Moving Average. Check the appropriate option for your data set. In this example, we will click Linear.

   

2. Because we are comparing five different products over time, Excel creates a trendline for each individual product. To create a linear trendline for Product A, click Product A and click the blue OK button.

   

3. The chart will now display a dotted trendline to represent the linear progression of Product A. Note that Excel has also added Linear (Product A) to the legend.

   

4. To display the trendline equation on your chart, double click the trendline. A Format Trendline window will open on the right side of your screen. Click the box next to Display equation on chart at the bottom of the window. The equation now appears on your chart.

   

Note: You can create separate trendlines for as many variables in your chart as you like. For example, here is our chart with trendlines for Product A and Product C. 

To Add Up/Down Bars: Up/Down Bars are not available for a column chart, but you can use them in a line chart to show increases and decreases among data points.

Step 4: Adjust Quick Layout

1. The second dropdown menu on the toolbar is Quick Layout, which allows you to quickly change the layout of elements in your chart (titles, legend, clusters etc.).

   

2. There are 11 quick layout options. Hover your cursor over the different options for an explanation and click the one you want to apply.

   

Step 5: Change Colors

The next dropdown menu in the toolbar is Change Colors. Click the icon and choose the color palette that fits your needs (these needs could be aesthetic, or to match your brand’s colors and style).

Step 6: Change Style

For cluster column charts, there are 14 chart styles available. Excel will default to Style 1, but you can select any of the other styles to change the chart appearance. Use the arrow on the right of the image bar to view other options.

Step 7: Switch Row/Column

1. Click the Switch Row/Column on the toolbar to flip the axes. Note: It is not always intuitive to flip axes for every chart, for example, if you have more than two variables.

   

In this example, switching the row and column swaps the product and year (profit remains on the y-axis). The chart is now clustered by product (not year), and the color-coded legend refers to the year (not product). To avoid confusion here, click on the legend and change the titles from Series to Years.

Step 8: Select Data

1. Click the Select Data icon on the toolbar to change the range of your data.
2. A window will open. Type the cell range you want and click the OK button. The chart will automatically update to reflect this new data range.

   

Step 9: Change Chart Type

1. Click the Change Chart Type dropdown menu.

   

2. Here you can change your chart type to any of the nine chart categories that Excel offers. Of course, make sure that your data is appropriate for the chart type you choose.

   

3. You can also save your chart as a template by clicking Save as Template…

4. A dialogue box will open where you can name your template. Excel will automatically create a folder for your templates for easy organization. Click the blue Save button.

   

Step 10: Move Chart

1. Click the Move Chart icon on the far right of the toolbar.
2. A dialogue box appears where you can choose where to place your chart. You can either create a new sheet with this chart (New sheet) or place this chart as an object in another sheet (Object in). Click the blue OK button.

   

Step 11: Change Formatting

1. The Format tab allows you to change formatting of all elements and text in the chart, including colors, size, shape, fill, and alignment, and the ability to insert shapes. Click the Format tab and use the shortcuts available to create a chart that reflects your organization’s brand (colors, images, etc.).

   

2. Click the dropdown menu on the top left side of the toolbar and click the chart element you are editing.

   

Step 12: Delete a Chart 

To delete a chart, simply click on it and click the Delete key on your keyboard.

Building charts and graphs are one of the best ways to visualize data in a clear and comprehensible way.

However, it’s no surprise that some people get a little intimidated by the prospect of poking around in Microsoft Excel.

I thought I’d share a helpful video tutorial as well as some step-by-step instructions for anyone out there who cringes at the thought of organizing a spreadsheet full of data into a chart that actually, you know, means something. But before diving in, we should go over the different types of charts you can create in the software.

Types of Charts in Excel

You can make more than just bar or line charts in Microsoft Excel, and when you understand the uses for each, you can draw more insightful information for your or your team’s projects.

Type of Chart	Use
Area	Area charts demonstrate the magnitude of a trend between two or more values over a given period.
Bar	Bar charts compare the frequency of values across different levels or variables.
Column	Column charts display data changes or a period of time.
Line	Similar to bar charts, they illustrate trends over time.
Pie	Pie charts show values as percentages of a whole.
Radar	Radar charts compare the aggregate of multiple data series.
Scatter	Scatter charts show the positive or negative relationship between two variables.
Stock	Stock charts are used to report the fluctuation of stock prices over given periods.
Surface	Surface charts plot sets of values in the form of a three-dimensional surface.

The steps you need to build a chart or graph in Excel are simple, and here’s a quick walkthrough on how to make them.

Keep in mind there are many different versions of Excel, so what you see in the video above might not always match up exactly with what you’ll see in your version. In the video, I used Excel 2021 version 16.49 for Mac OS X.

To get the most updated instructions, I encourage you to follow the written instructions below (or download them as PDFs). Most of the buttons and functions you’ll see and read are very similar across all versions of Excel.

Download Demo Data | Download Instructions (Mac) | Download Instructions (PC)

Featured Resource: Free Excel Graph Templates

Why start from scratch? Use these free Excel Graph Generators. just input your data and adjust as needed for a beautiful data visualization. 

1. Enter your data into Excel.

First, you need to input your data into Excel. You might have exported the data from elsewhere, like a piece of marketing software or a survey tool. Or maybe you’re inputting it manually.

In the example below, in Column A, I have a list of responses to the question, “Did inbound marketing demonstrate ROI?”, and in Columns B, C, and D, I have the responses to the question, “Does your company have a formal sales-marketing agreement?” For example, Column C, Row 2 illustrates that 49% of people with a service level agreement (SLA) also say that inbound marketing demonstrated ROI.

2. Choose from the graph and chart options.

In Excel, your options for charts and graphs include column (or bar) graphs, line graphs, pie graphs, scatter plots, and more. See how Excel identifies each one in the top navigation bar, as depicted below:

To find the chart and graph options, select Insert.

(For help figuring out which type of chart/graph is best for visualizing your data, check out our free ebook, How to Use Data Visualization to Win Over Your Audience.)

3. Highlight your data and insert your desired graph into the spreadsheet.

In this example, a bar graph presents the data visually. To make a bar graph, highlight the data and include the titles of the X and Y-axis. Then, go to the Insert tab and click the column icon in the charts section. Choose the graph you wish from the dropdown window that appears.

I picked the first two dimensional column option because I prefer the flat bar graphic over the three dimensional look. See the resulting bar graph below.

4. Switch the data on each axis, if necessary.

If you want to switch what appears on the X and Y axis, right-click on the bar graph, click Select Data, and click Switch Row/Column. This will rearrange which axes carry which pieces of data in the list shown below. When finished, click OK at the bottom.

The resulting graph would look like this:

5. Adjust your data’s layout and colors.

To change the labeling layout and legend, click on the bar graph, then click the Chart Design tab. Here, you can choose which layout you prefer for the chart title, axis titles, and legend. In my example below, I clicked on the option that displayed softer bar colors and legends below the chart.

To further format the legend, click on it to reveal the Format Legend Entry sidebar, as shown below. Here, you can change the fill color of the legend, which will change the color of the columns themselves. To format other parts of your chart, click on them individually to reveal a corresponding Format window.

6. Change the size of your chart’s legend and axis labels.

When you first make a graph in Excel, the size of your axis and legend labels might be small, depending on the graph or chart you choose (bar, pie, line, etc.) Once you’ve created your chart, you’ll want to beef up those labels so they’re legible.

To increase the size of your graph’s labels, click on them individually and, instead of revealing a new Format window, click back into the Home tab in the top navigation bar of Excel. Then, use the font type and size dropdown fields to expand or shrink your chart’s legend and axis labels to your liking.

7. Change the Y-axis measurement options if desired.

To change the type of measurement shown on the Y axis, click on the Y-axis percentages in your chart to reveal the Format Axis window. Here, you can decide if you want to display units located on the Axis Options tab, or if you want to change whether the Y-axis shows percentages to two decimal places or no decimal places.

Because my graph automatically sets the Y axis’s maximum percentage to 60%, you might want to change it manually to 100% to represent my data on a universal scale. To do so, you can select the Maximum option — two fields down under Bounds in the Format Axis window — and change the value from 0.6 to one.

The resulting graph will look like the one below (In this example, the font size of the Y-axis has been increased via the Home tab so that you can see the difference):

8. Reorder your data, if desired.

To sort the data so the respondents’ answers appear in reverse order, right-click on your graph and click Select Data to reveal the same options window you called up in Step 3 above. This time, arrow up and down to reverse the order of your data on the chart.

If you have more than two lines of data to adjust, you can also rearrange them in ascending or descending order. To do this, highlight all of your data in the cells above your chart, click Data and select Sort, as shown below. Depending on your preference, you can choose to sort based on smallest to largest, or vice versa.

The resulting graph would look like this:

9. Title your graph.

Now comes the fun and easy part: naming your graph. By now, you might have already figured out how to do this. Here’s a simple clarifier.

Right after making your chart, the title that appears will likely be «Chart Title,» or something similar depending on the version of Excel you’re using. To change this label, click on «Chart Title» to reveal a typing cursor. You can then freely customize your chart’s title.

When you have a title you like, click Home on the top navigation bar, and use the font formatting options to give your title the emphasis it deserves. See these options and my final graph below:

10. Export your graph or chart.

Once your chart or graph is exactly the way you want it, you can save it as an image without screenshotting it in the spreadsheet. This method will give you a clean image of your chart that can be inserted into a PowerPoint presentation, Canva document, or any other visual template.

To save your Excel graph as a photo, right-click on the graph and select Save as Picture.

In the dialogue box, name the photo of your graph, choose where to save it on your computer, and choose the file type you’d like to save it as. In this example, it’s saved as a JPEG to a desktop folder. Finally, click Save.

You’ll have a clear photo of your graph or chart that you can add to any visual design.

Visualize Data Like A Pro

That was pretty easy, right? With this step-by-step tutorial, you’ll be able to quickly create charts and graphs that visualize the most complicated data. Try using this same tutorial with different graph types like a pie chart or line graph to see what format tells the story of your data best.

Editor’s note: This post was originally published in June 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Creating and Editing Beautiful Charts and Diagrams in Excel 2019

The greatest benefit of Excel 2019 compared to other Microsoft Office software is its ability to quickly generate charts, graphs and diagrams. After you enter data into your spreadsheet, adding a chart to your worksheet is as simple as clicking a few buttons, formatting the chart, and clicking the save button. You have several options for the type of chart that you want to add to your spreadsheet, and you can even add effects and 3D elements.

Set Up Your Data

Before you can create a chart, you need some data stored in a spreadsheet. This can be test data or data from a previous spreadsheet. For this article’s examples, we’ll use a chart of products sold. The scenario is an ecommerce store that sells red and blue widgets. The following spreadsheet shows the sample data setup:

(Sample data for a new chart)

Notice that the «A» column is used for the first six months of the year. Column «B» has the number of sales for Red widgets by month. Column «C» has the number of Blue widgets sold by month. Suppose we want to see a graph to visually represent the number of sales each month. This can be done by inserting an Excel 2019 chart into the spreadsheet that contains the data.

Inserting a Standard Chart

Any chart or diagram that you want to make can be found in the «Insert» tab on Excel.

(Location of chart buttons)

Each type of chart is shown using an icon on the button. With Excel, you can make bar, line, pie, scatter, hierarchy and several others. You might be wondering which type of chart is the best for your data, and Excel has a new «Recommended Charts» function that makes a suggestion for you based on the data stored.

When you select the data for your chart, make sure that you select the row and column header cells. Excel will use these headers for the labels inserted into your chart’s image. Select cells A1 to C7 to select all data. Next, click the «Recommended Charts» button. A new window displays showing a list of recommended charts for the data selected.

(Recommended chart window)

The recommendations Excel displays use column and row headers, and then add data to show you a visual representation of the chart that you’re about to insert into the spreadsheet. In the image above, Excel shows you several charts to choose from. For this example, a clustered column chart (the first option in the image above) is chosen. Excel automatically draws the chart and inserts it into the spreadsheet.

(Inserted clustered column chart)

A clustered chart makes a comparison of sales for each widget based on the months of the year. For instance, in January 53 red widgets were sold and 68 blue widgets were sold. The red widget sales numbers are shown in blue, and the blue widget sales are shown in yellow.

It doesn’t make sense to display red widgets in blue, so we want to change the colors used in the bar graphs. Excel provides formatting option for charts where you can change labels, colors and even change the chart type on the fly.

To change a bar’s color, click it in the chart. A window on the right displays a list of formatting and effects that you can add to the selected component in the chart.

(Bar chart effects and color options)

You’ll see in the format window that you have several options. The paint bucket icons is the «Fill» button that lets you change colors and the type of pattern displayed in the selected bar (in this scenario it’s the blue bars). Click the paint bucket icon, and then click the drop down next to the «Color» label.

With the red widget sales bar shown as red, the orange bar should be a new color. We can change the blue sales bar to blue, and then the bar chart is more intuitive. After you change colors and formatting in a chart, Excel automatically changes any labels associated with a chart component.

 

(New chart colors updated in a sales chart)

To the left of the chart, you can see the data highlighted letting you know what Excel is using in the chart. Purple is the bar labels and the blue highlighted data is used to populate bar values. The red highlighted cells are the color labels at the bottom of the chart.

Since the spreadsheet chart has no title, Excel doesn’t know what value to give the chart title component. The default chart title is labeled «Chart Title.» You can change the chart title component by double clicking the text box. Type a new chart name for the title. In this example, the chart title was changed to «Widget Sales.»

(Title change in a sales chart)

Changing a Chart’s Design

The «Format» tab displayed as an option for each image that you added to a spreadsheet. When you add a chart to a spreadsheet, the «Design» tab displays as an option. You can change several elements of a chart including the type of chart that displays in the «Design» tab. The tab is displayed by default when you first create a chart, but you need to select the tab after you’ve finished adding effects.

You have several options in the «Design» tab.

(Design tab options for a chart)

The «Chart Styles» section is where you can change the type of bar chart. Click any one of these bar chart types to change the way it displays in Excel. The downside of using this option is that Excel reverts color and effect changes back to the default. After you change the bar chart type, you again need to redo color changes and any special effects such as shadows, glow effects and 3D formatting.

You can also change the entire chart type and switch to a new one using the «Change Chart Type» button. This button is in the «Type» section to the right of the «Chart Styles» section. Click this button and a new «Change Chart Type» window displays.

(Change Chart Type options)

Since we only used the recommended chart type function, the complete list of chart type options wasn’t initially displayed during the first chart creation. When you have a full list of chart types, you can see that Excel has several types that you can choose from. Excel orders chart types by the most commonly used, so the first few are what you’ll likely use in your own spreadsheets.

In this example, we’ll switch the chart type to a pie chart. Click the «Pie» option in the left panel. You can then choose a sub-type at the top of the window. In the image above, notice that there are several bar types. You can choose sub-types in any chart selection to make your charts visually appealing.

(A bar chart changed to a pie chart)

With a chart changed to a new type, you can still have access to the «Design» tab to make more revisions. Notice that the pie chart also changes to the default colors created by Excel. You can click any part of the pie chart to change its effects just like you did with the bar chart and the formatting window opens.

If you want to change the sub-type for a chart, you can use the «Quick Layout» button that displays a dropdown of options.

(Quick Layout options to change the chart sub-type)

The dropdown displays the sub-type options that display data in different ways for a pie chart. For instance, you can show the values within the colored areas versus the default layout that shows values outside of the colored sections. You can show a percentage indicated by the icon that shows a percent section in the icon. This feature of Excel 2019 makes it much faster and easier when choosing a new sub-type for your charts.

Click one of the options in the dropdown to change the bar chart to a different layout. Notice that the right of the chart image has several buttons. You can use these to quickly change the way a chart displays visually to users. With Excel, you have several options to pick and choose the way your charts and graphs display. You can match colors to brands or change them based on the data being used. These options along with the ease of how you can create charts is what makes Excel a great option for creating spreadsheets.

Changing Chart Data

As you continue to develop your spreadsheet, you might add more data to your chart. For instance, you might add another month to your chart. It could be August and now you want data shown from the month of July. You can change data in a chart using the «Select Data» option.

(Select Data button)

By clicking the «Select Data» button, a window opens that asks for new data. We’ve added a new row with data that reflects the number of sales in July. We now want to add this data to the pie chart.

Click the «Select Data» button and a new window opens.

(The «Select Data» window provides options to change data used in a chart)

Notice that you can switch columns and rows. This option is beneficial when you need to change the way a chart uses data when it doesn’t translate well during chart propagation. The arrow button next to the «Chart data range» text box opens a new window that lets you choose a new range of cells for chart values. Use this to select the newly added July row stored in the spreadsheet data.

Press «Enter» when you are done with your selection, and then click «OK» to add the new range to your pie chart. Excel automatically updates the graph and displays the new results.

(Updated chart data)

Use Excel’s chart options to create graphs that represent your data in a visual format. Excel has several chart options, so any diagram or layout that you think best represents your information is available. After you create a chart, you don’t have to stick to the data chosen. You can choose new data and update it continuously as you add more information to your spreadsheet.

Remember that any changes that you don’t like can be immediately changed using the «Undo» button in the quickbar at the top of your Excel window.

Chart Recommendations

In prior versions of Excel, you had the Chart Wizard to help you create charts. That was a great tool and a great help, but Excel offers you something even better: Recommended Charts tool. This is under the Insert tab on the Ribbon in the Charts group (as pictured above).

To create a chart this way, first select the data that you want to put into a chart. Include labels and data.

When you click on the Recommended Charts button, a dialogue box opens like the one pictured below.

Based on your data, Excel recommends a chart for you to use. 

On the left side of this dialogue box is all the chart recommendations.

On the right is a preview of what the chart will look like with your data.

Choose the chart that you want to use, then click OK.

The chart is embedded in your worksheet for you:

You’ll also notice that the Chart Tools Format tab opens in the Ribbon:

The tools shown above will help you customize your charts

Types of Charts

To the right of the Recommended Charts button on the ribbon, you’ll see this:

You can use these buttons and their dropdown menus to create these types and styles of charts. We’re going to go from left to right, starting at the top left, and cover all the buttons above.

Insert Column or Bar Chart. This is the first button, located in the top left corner. With this, you can preview data as a 2-D or 3-D vertical column chart or as a 2-D or 3-D horizontal bar chart.

Insert Hierarchy Chart. Use this chart to compare a part to a whole or to show the hierarchy of several columns or categories.

Insert Waterfall or Stock Chart. The waterfall chart is used to show how a starting value is affected by a series of positive and negative values, while the stock chart is used to show the trend of a stock’s value over time.

Insert Line or Area Chart. This lets you preview data as a 2-D or 3-D line or area chart.

Insert Statistic Chart. Use these charts to show a statistical analysis of your data. Chart types include Histogram, Pareto, and Box and Whisker charts.

Insert Combo Chart. These charts are best when you have mixed data or want to emphasize different types of information. You can preview your data as a 2-D combo clustered column and line chart – or clustered column and stacked area chart.

Insert Pie or Doughnut Chart.   You can preview data as a 2-D or 3-D pie or 2-D doughnut chart.

Insert Scatter (X,Y) or Bubble Chart. Preview data as a 2-D scatter or bubble chart.

Insert Surface, or Radar Chart. With this, you can preview data as a 2-D stock chart that uses typical stock symbols, a 2-D or 3-D surface chart, or even a 3-D radar chart.

More Chart Types

Excel brings with it some new chart types to help you better illustrate data that you include in your worksheets.

These chart types include:

• Treemap. A treemap chart displays hierarchically structured data. The data appears as rectangles that contain other rectangles. A set of rectangles on the save level in the hierarchy equal a column or an expression. Individual rectangles on the same level equal a category in a column. For example, a rectangle that represents a state may contain other rectangles that represent cities in that state.
• Waterfall. As explained by Microsoft, «Waterfall charts are ideal for showing how you have arrived at a net value, by breaking down the cumulative effect of positive and negative contributions. This is very helpful for many different scenarios, from visualizing financial statements to navigating data about population, births and deaths».
• Pareto. A Pareto chart contains both bars and a line graph. Individual values are represented by bars. The cumulative total is represented by the line.
• Histogram. A histogram chart displays numerical data in bins. The bins are represented by bars. It’s used for continuous data.
• Box and Whisker. A Box and Whisker chart, as explained by Microsoft, is «A box and whisker chart shows distribution of data into quartiles, highlighting the mean and outliers. The boxes may have lines extending vertically called ‘whiskers’. These lines indicate variability outside the upper and lower quartiles, and any point outside those lines or whiskers is considered an outlier.»
• Sunburst. A sunburst chart is a pie chart that shows relational datasets. The inner rings of the chart relate to the outer rings.   It’s a hierarchal chart with the inner rings at the top of the hierarchy.

Creating Charts Using the Ribbon

By using the chart options we discussed in the last section, we can quickly and easily create a chart, then embed it into our worksheet. 

Let’s insert a bar chart into our worksheet below.

Start out by selecting the data you want to use in the chart.

Now click the Insert Column or Bar Chart button on the Ribbon.

Choose the bar chart you want to use, or click More Column Charts. 

If you click More Column Charts, this is what you’ll see:

On the right side of the window, you will see a list of different chart types. Click Bar.

At the top, you’ll see bar charts illustrated in gray. These are different styles of bar charts. You can click on any of the styles and see a preview of your data in that style of chart (in color) in the box below.

Select the type of chart you want, then click OK.

Excel embeds the chart in your worksheet for you:

Creating a Chart from Scratch

So far in this article, we’ve taught you how to create charts by selecting your data first. However, you don’t have to do it that way (although it’s the easiest).   In other words, you can start to create your chart without selecting data first.

Let’s learn how.

Click the Insert Column or Bar Chart button on the Ribbon again. However, this time, don’t select any data before you do it.

Select the type of bar chart that you want to use.

You’ll see a blank area on your worksheet where your chart will be embedded, and you’ll also notice the Chart Design and the Chart Format tabs open on the Ribbon.

Click the Select Data button under the Design tab.

The Select Data Source dialog window will open.

The data range refers to the number of cells you’d like to use. For instance, «=Sheet1!$A$1:$G$8» refers to cells A1 through G8 on worksheet one.   

It’s actually much easier to select the data range by dragging your mouse over it. To do that, click the Data Range button  next to the text box.

You’ll see another box that looks like this:

This window is simply asking you to define the data range, and you can do it easily by clicking on a cell, holding the mouse button, and dragging it over all of the cells you’d like to add. MS Excel automatically enters the selected cell coordinates into the data range window. When you are finished, you can either click the button on the right  or push Enter.

When you hit Enter, the chart appears in your worksheet:

Now you can use the Select Data Source dialogue box to add legend entries – or edit and remove them.  

You can also edit your axis labels. 

Note that your axis labels were your row labels. These appear as colors representing each day of the week.

Your legend entries were your column labels. These appear on the left, vertically.

Your data appears as the bars.

If you want, you can switch rows and columns so that the days of the week appear on the left and your axis labels become legend entries.

Uncheck any entries that you don’t want to appear in the chart.

Click OK when you’re finished.

Creating Charts Using the Quick Analysis Tool

To use the Quick Analysis tool for creating charts, select that data that you want to include in chart. Click on the Quick Analysis tool button at the bottom right of the selected data (circled in red below):

Click Charts (circled in red):

Select the type of chart you want.

We’re going to choose a clustered chart.

The chart is embedded in your spreadsheet:

Modifying and Moving a Chart

There are a number of ways to modify a chart after it’s made. 

You can right click on the plot area as we’ve done below.

From the menu, you can delete the chart, reset, change the chart type, save the chart as a template, or select data to include in the chart. You can also format the chart area.

You can also click on the chart’s title to change or format it.

You can also right click on the legend or any other aspect of the chart to move it around and make changes. We’re going to talk about modifying chart elements in another section.

If you want to move a chart, simply click and drag any of its bounding box borders:

You can use the handles on the bounding box (the little circles indicated by the arrows above) to resize your chart. Drag it in to make it smaller, out to make it larger.

Chart Sheets

If you want a chart to appear on its own sheet in the workbook, simply click somewhere in the plot of the chart or select the data in your spreadsheet. Hit F11 on your keyboard.

The chart is moved to its own sheet as a clustered column chart.

Note that the sheet is named Chart1 by default. You can change that name the same way that you change any other worksheet name.

The Design Tab and Customizing Charts

The tools on the Design tab help you to customize your charts so that you achieve the look, feel, and purpose that you want.

The Design tab is pictured below. You can mouse over any tools to learn their names. 

We’re going to cover all the aspects of the Design tab, starting with groups and breaking them down into tools.

Chart Layouts is the first group on the left. It contains the Add Chart Element tool and the Quick Layout tool. The Add Chart Element tool allows you to modify some elements, such as titles, data labels, legend, etc. The Quick Layout tool allows you to select a new layout for your chart.

Chart Styles gives you different styles of charts to choose from. You can also change the colors used in your charts using the Change Colors tool.

The Data group allows you to reverse rows and columns in your chart. We also talked about doing this earlier. It also gives you the Select Data tool, which we used in a prior section.

The Type group contains Change Chart Type. You can change the type of chart by using this tool.

The Location group has the Move Chart tool that allows you to move the chart to a different place within your worksheet – or to another worksheet.

Customizing Chart Elements with the Chart Elements Button

The Chart Elements button appears as a plus sign whenever your chart is selected.

In the snapshot below, you can see it to the right of our chart.

When you click it, you’ll see a list of chart elements that you can add to your chart.

The elements that are in your chart have checkmarks beside them. You can uncheck them to remove the elements. To add an element, simply put a checkmark in the box beside it. 

If you want to remove or add just a part of an element, or specify its layout as with Data Labels, you’ll use the Chart Elements continuation menu.

Here’s how to do this.

Start by putting a checkmark beside Data Labels (as an example).

You’ll see an arrow appear to the right of the word Data Labels (indicated in red below.)

Click the arrow and you’ll see the continuation menu.

Select a layout option.

We’re going to choose Data Callout.

Formatting a Chart

To format a chart, you can double click in the plot area or the chart area. If you double click in the chart area, it opens the Format Chart Area pane on the right side of your window. If you double click in the plot area, it opens the Format Plot area on the right side of your screen, as shown below.

At the top of the pane, are the options.

Fill & Line looks like a bucket pouring green paint and allows you to format the fill and lines of your chart.

The Effects button is the one on the right, which allows you to add special effects to your chart to customize the look.

Take time to play around with the different formatting options for your charts. It’s a lot of fun to do, and you will discover interesting combinations of effects that will produce charts you’ll love.

Organizational Charts or Diagrams with SmartArt

While an ordinary chart simply represents data, diagrams and organizational charts explain the causal relationship between elements. The following organizational chart, for instance, explains the relationship between managers and subordinates.

The simplest way to create an organizational chart is to click the Insert tab, then SmartArt. The SmartArt icon has been scaled down in Excel 2019, so we’ve circled it in red below.

The SmartArt dialogue box appears:

Choose the type of organizational chart or diagram you want on the left. You can choose a style from the middle section called List.

Once you choose your chart or diagram, click OK.

It appears in your spreadsheet:

Click on the areas marked text to add your own.

In the Ribbon, the SmartArt Design and Format tabs appear.

You can use these tools to change the layout, apply a style, change the colors, and other formatting elements.

View Animation in Charts

One of the debated new features in Excel 2019 is the animation added to charts. 

Here’s how the animation works.

After you create a chart, then change the data for the chart in the spreadsheet, you can watch your chart and see it change too – in full animation.

In other words, if you have a bar chart, and you change the data so that a bar will be shorter, you can watch the bar slowly become shorter right after you change the data.

Sparklines

A sparkline is simply a small chart that’s aligned with a row of your data. It typically shows trend information.

Let’s learn how to add one in the spreadsheet below:

To insert a sparkline, go to the Ribbon, click the Insert tab, then the Sparklines group.

Choose the type of sparkline you want to add.

We’re going to choose Line.

You’ll see this dialogue box.

Select the cells in your spreadsheet that you want to use for your sparkline. Just drag your mouse to select the cells.

Next, enter the absolute reference for the cell where you want the sparkline to appear.

Click OK.

The sparkline now appears in the location you specified.

You can also format your sparkline using the Sparkline Tools Design tab that opens in the Ribbon.