Creating charts microsoft excel

Create a chart (graph) that is recommended for your data, almost as fast as using the chart wizard that is no longer available.

Create a chart

1. Select the data for which you want to create a chart.

2. Click INSERT > Recommended Charts.

3. On the Recommended Charts tab, scroll through the list of charts that Excel recommends for your data, and click any chart to see how your data will look.

   If you don’t see a chart you like, click All Charts to see all the available chart types.

4. When you find the chart you like, click it > OK.

5. Use the Chart Elements, Chart Styles, and Chart Filters buttons, next to the upper-right corner of the chart to add chart elements like axis titles or data labels, customize the look of your chart, or change the data that is shown in the chart.

6. To access additional design and formatting features, click anywhere in the chart to add the CHART TOOLS to the ribbon, and then click the options you want on the DESIGN and FORMAT tabs.

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Copy an Excel chart to another Office program

Create a chart from start to finish

Charts provide a visual representation of your data, making it easier to analyze.

For example, I want to create a chart for Sales, to see if there is a pattern.

I select the cells that I want to use for the chart, click the Quick Analysis button, and click the CHARTS tab.

Excel displays recommended charts based on the data in the cells selected.

You can hover over each one to see what looks good for your data.

Clustered Column is great for comparing data, so I click it.

And now, I have an eye catching chart of the data.

It looks like the Summer months are slower and the Winter months are busier.

Up next, Create pie, bar, and line charts.

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.

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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.”

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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.