Line and bar chart excel

Combination charts combine data using more than one chart type, for example columns and a line. Building a combination chart in Excel is usually pretty easy. But if one series type is horizontal bars, then combining this with another type can be tricky. I’m here to help with Bar-Line, or rather, Bar-XY combination charts in Excel.

I’ll illustrate a simple combination chart with this simple data. The chart will use the first column for horizontal axis category labels, the second column for actual values plotted using lines with markers, and the third column using columns (vertical bars).

We start by selecting the data and inserting a column chart.

We finish by right clicking on the “Actual” data, choosing Change Series Chart Type from the pop-up menu, and selecting the new chart type we want. I’ve also used a lighter shade of orange for the columns, to make the markers stand out better.

Let’s do the same for a bar chart. Select the data, insert a bar chart.

Okay, the category labels are along the vertical axis, but we’ll continue by changing the Actual data to a line chart series. That didn’t work out at all. The markers are not positioned vertically along the centers of the horizontal bars, nor horizontally where the data lies in the Actual column of the worksheet.

In the chart below I’ve shown all axis scales and axis titles to illustrate the problem. When we converted the Actual series to a line type, Excel assigned it to the secondary axis, and we have no ability to reassign it to the primary axis. The primary axes used for the bar chart are not aligned with the secondary axes used for the line chart: the X axis for the bars is vertical and the X axis for the line is horizontal; the Y axis for the bars is horizontal and the Y axis for the line is vertical.

We can’t use a line chart at all. If we want to line up the markers horizontally with their proper position along the lengths of the bars, we need to use the Actual data as the X values of an XY series. We will need to generate some additional data for the Y values of the XY series.

Bar-XY Combination Chart

We will not try to make a Bar-Line combination chart, because the Line chart type does not position the markers where we want them. We will make a Bar-XY chart type, using an XY chart type (a/k/a Scatter chart type) to position markers.

Here is the new data needed for our Bar-XY combination chart. The factor labels and Target values will be used by the Bar chart series, and the Actual values and Heights for the XY series. Don’t worry about the Height values: I’ll show how they are derived in a moment. The nice thing is that we can use dummy values now and type in the proper values later and the chart will update.

Select the first two columns of the data and insert a bar chart.

Since we probably want the categories listed in the same order as in the worksheet, let’s select the vertical axis (which in a bar chart is the X axis) and press Ctrl+1, the shortcut that opens the Format dialog or task pane for the selected object in Excel. Check the box for Categories in Reverse Order and also select Horizontal Axis Crosses at Maximum Category to move it next to Factor 5.

I’ve also recolored the bars orange, because blue markers show up better against light orange than orange markers against light blue.

Now copy the last two columns (Actual and Height), select the chart, and on the Home tab of the ribbon, click the Paste dropdown arrow, choose the options in this dialog (add cells as new series, values in columns, series names in first row, categories in first column), and click OK.

The data is added as another set of bars, which I’ve colored blue, but we’ll change that in a second.

Right-click on the added series, select Change Series Chart Type from the pop-up menu, and select XY with markers and lines.

We see that the horizontal positions of the markers is just what we want to show.

Now we can see where the values in the Heights column comes from. The right hand vertical axis is used for the Y values of the XY series. Looking at the positions of the horizontal bars and the markers in their correct positions, we can see that the Factor 1 bar is centered on Y=4.5, the Factor 2 bar is centered on 3.5, etc. If you hadn’t guessed this at the beginning, type these values into your data range, and let the chart update.

A few minor changes and we’ll be done. First, change the name of the XY series from Heights to Actual. The easiest way is to click on the series, then look at the highlighted ranges in the chart. The X values (C2:C6) are highlighted purple, the Y values (D2:D6) are highlighted blue, and the series name (cell D1) is highlighted red (highlight colors in Excel 2010 and earlier are different, but the concept is the same). Click on the red border of cell D2, and drag the highlighting rectangle to cover cell C2 to change the series name.

Click on the red border of cell D2, and drag the highlighting rectangle to cover cell C2 to change the series name.

Then, use a lighter shade of orange for the bars, so the blue markers stand out. Finally, hide the right-hand vertical axis: format it so it has no labels and no line color.

And there’s our completed Bar-XY Combination Chart.

More Combination Chart Articles on the Peltier Tech Blog

• Clustered Column and Line Combination Chart
• Precision Positioning of XY Data Points
• Add a Horizontal Line to an Excel Chart
• Horizontal Line Behind Columns in an Excel Chart
• Salary Chart: Plot Markers on Floating Bars
• Fill Under or Between Series in an Excel XY Chart
• Fill Under a Plotted Line: The Standard Normal Curve
• Excel Chart With Colored Quadrant Background

In this video, see how to create pie, bar, and line charts, depending on what type of data you start with.

We created a clustered column chart in the previous video.

In this video, we are going to create pie, bar, and line charts.

Each type of chart highlights data differently.

And some charts can’t be used with some types of data.

We’ll go over this shortly.

To create a pie chart, select the cells you want to chart.

Click Quick Analysis and click CHARTS.

Excel displays recommended options based on the data in the cells you select, so the options won’t always be the same.

I’ll show you how to create a chart that isn’t a Quick Analysis option, shortly.

Click the Pie option, and your chart is created.

You can chart only one data series with a pie chart.

In this example, those are the Sales figures in cells B2 through B5.

I am going to move and resize the chart, so it displays without having to scroll, which will also make it easier to customize (something we’ll look at in the next video.)

I click the chart; hold down the left mouse button, and drag to move it.

I scroll down a little, click the bottom right-hand corner of the chart, and drag it up and to the left to make it smaller.

Different data displays better in different types of charts.

If you try to graph too much data in a pie chart it looks like this, not very useful.

Now, I am creating a bar chart using the same data we used to create the pie chart.

Charting the same data different ways can provide you with a different perspective that may help you discover different insights in the data.

We are creating some of the more common chart types, but there are many more options.

To create charts that aren’t Quick Analysis options, select the cells you want to chart, click the INSERT tab.

In the Charts group, we have a lot of options.

Click Recommended Charts to see the charts that will work best with the data you have selected; click All Charts for even more options.

These are all of the different types of charts you can create.

As I mentioned earlier, a pie chart is not a recommended option for the data we selected, because it can only display one data series.

We could make a Pie chart, but it would only show the first data series, the Average Precipitation for New York, and not the second data series, the Average Precipitation for Seattle.

Instead, let’s make a Line with Markers chart.

Click Line, click Line with Marker, point to an option and you get a preview of the chart.

Click OK, and we have created our line chart.

Up next, Customize charts.

There are vizzes labeled “easy in Excel, hard in Tableau”. Side-by-side (grouped) bar chart is one of them. Grouped bars and lines combo graph is just a couple of clicks away when in Excel. On the contrary, substantial efforts are required to build it in Tableau. The side-by-side bar chart is just like the stacked bar chart except we’ve un-stacked them and put the bars side by side along the horizontal axis. This is an extension of the Blended axes chart. Let us follow the steps in the following recipe to quickly create a Side by Side Bar chart. I was checking #Workoutwednesday challenge the other night and came across the following challenge.

Now as per above challenge we need to create “Side by side bar chart combined with the line chart”. Order Quantity for the East and West regions should display as side-by-side bars and Sales amount for the East and West regions should be displayed as lines. Many of you are thinking that this can be easily achieved by using the Dual Axis. If you tried, you would have come to know that you will end up creating Stacked Bar chart in one axis and Line Chart in another axis. Dont forget to check Jonathan Drummey http://drawingwithnumbers.artisart.org/bars-and-lines post which describes a generic approach for solving this type of problem.

Method 1 : Using Custom SQL

To achieve the side by side bar chart along with the Line chart, I will be using Custom SQL.You can use custom SQL to union your data across tables, recast
fields to perform cross-database joins, restructure or reduce the size
of your data for analysis, etc.

Note: For Excel and text file data sources, this
option is available only in workbooks that were created before Tableau
Desktop 8.2 or when using Tableau Desktop on Windows with the legacy connection.
To connect to Excel or text files using the legacy connection, connect
to the file, and in the Open dialog box, click the Open drop-down menu,
and then select Open with Legacy Connection.

SELECT
[Orders$].[Region] AS [Region],
[Orders$].[Order Date] AS [Order Date],
[Orders$].[Quantity] AS [MeasureValue],
‘Quantity – East’ AS  MeasureName,
‘Bar’ AS MarkType
FROM [Orders$]
Where [Orders$].[Region]= “East”

UNION

SELECT
[Orders$].[Region] AS [Region],
[Orders$].[Order Date] AS [Order Date],
[Orders$].[Quantity] AS [MeasureValue],
‘Quantity – West’ AS  MeasureName,
‘Bar’ AS MarkType
 FROM [Orders$]
Where [Orders$].[Region]= “West”

UNION

SELECT
[Orders$].[Region] AS [Region],
[Orders$].[Order Date] AS [Order Date],
[Orders$].[Sales] AS [MeasureValue],
‘Sales’ AS  MeasureName,
‘Line’ AS MarkType
FROM [Orders$]
Where [Orders$].[Region]= “East”

UNION

SELECT
[Orders$].[Region] AS [Region],
[Orders$].[Order Date] AS [Order Date],
[Orders$].[Sales] AS [MeasureValue],
‘Sales’ AS  MeasureName,
‘Line’ AS MarkType
FROM [Orders$]
Where [Orders$].[Region]= “West”

Create some basic calculation

Let’s create two calculated fields which gives us “Quantity” for Bar chart and “Sales”for Line chart.

 [Bar Chart]
 IF ([MarkType])=’BAR’ THEN [MeasureValue] END

 [Line Chart]
 IF ([MarkType])=’Line’ THEN [MeasureValue] END

Now we have Pivot field ( MeasureName and MeasureValue), Sales and Quantity. We need to create a Date Field (Date axis) labeling to display the months.

 [Date Axis]
 IF ([MarkType]) = “Bar” THEN

Note :
a) +9 will add an extra space between the two bar chart
b) In other words, it will add 9 days in the existing date which gives us enough space to add 2nd Bar

Once our calculated field is ready, just drag “Date Axis” on column Shelf, “Bar Chart” and “Line Chart” on Row shelf, “MeasureName” on the color shelf.

We can develop side by side bar chart combined with Line chart without even using Custom SQL.Special thanks to Jeffrey Shaffer , Andy Kriebel and Naveen Bandala for providing me the alternate solution.

Method 2: New order Date Calculation

Jeffrey Shaffer suggested an alternate way of creating an “order date placement” calculated Field which automatically aligned the bar in a side by side fashion.

 [order date placement]
 
CASE [Region]
 WHEN ‘North’ THEN DATETRUNC(‘month’,[Order Date])+ 0
 WHEN ‘South’ THEN DATETRUNC(‘month’,[Order Date])+ 1
 WHEN ‘East’ THEN DATETRUNC(‘month’,[Order Date])+ 2

 WHEN ‘West’ THEN DATETRUNC(‘month’,[Order Date])+ 10

 END

Method 3: Simple Hack

Coach Andy created another calculated  Field which not only aligned the side by side bar accurately but also keeps the month’s Label at the Center of the Bar chart.

Note : Make Sure your Stack Marks are off ( Go to Analysis –> Stack Marks –>Off)

 [Region Placement]
 
IF [Region]=’East’ THEN -10
  ELSEIF [Region]=’West’ THEN 10
  END

Drag this Calculated field on the Size Shelf and change the aggregation from default to Median.Please refer the highlighted mark of the below image.

Method 4: Using Index() Function

Naveen has suggested another way to achieve the same result by using Index() function. Dont forget to check his awesome website http://www.tabvizanalytics.com/ which has so many Tableau Tips and Tricks.

 [Date Position]
 IF INDEX() = 1
 THEN ATTR(DATETRUNC(‘month’,[Order Date]))
 ELSEIF INDEX() = 2
 THEN ATTR(DATETRUNC(‘month’,[Order Date])+10)
 END

Note *:
1) Make sure Month(order date) should be in detail shelf and Region on Color marks.
2) Index() should be computed against Months and region.

Method 5: Using Fixed Bar Size option

Yuri Fal has created this awesome trick which I found on tableau community forum

1.Create a Bar Size feeder Calculation on tableau which adjust based on your Date Granularity

IF     
MIN(DATETRUNC('day',[Order Date])) = MAX(DATETRUNC('day',[Order Date]))
 THEN    0.2
 ELSEIF MIN(DATETRUNC('week',[Order Date])) = MAX(DATETRUNC('week',[Order Date]))
 THEN    1.0
 ELSEIF MIN(DATETRUNC('month',[Order Date])) = MAX(DATETRUNC('month',[Order Date]))
 THEN    7.0
 ELSEIF MIN(DATETRUNC('quarter',[Order Date])) = MAX(DATETRUNC('quarter',[Order Date]))
 THEN   28.0
 ELSEIF MIN(DATETRUNC('year',[Order Date])) = MAX(DATETRUNC('year',[Order Date]))
 THEN   91.0
 END

4. Create another calculation which helps in aligning the Bar.

 [Bar Size]
 CASE INDEX()
 WHEN 1 THEN – [Bar Size Feeder]
 WHEN 2 THEN [Bar Size Feeder]
 END

5. Drag “Bar Size” on Size Marks card and compute against Region

Hope you enjoyed it. You can find other Workoutwednesday challenge by clicking the below link

  Tableau #Workoutwednesday Challenge

As always, I welcome feedback and constructive criticism. I can be reached on Twitter @rajvivan.If you enjoyed this blog , I’d love for you to hit the share button so others might stumble upon it. Please hit the subscribe button as well if you’d like to be added to my once-weekly email list, and don’t forget to follow Vizartpandey on Instagram!

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