Making a graph from excel

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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.

Over the past years, one of the things we’ve learned is that Microsoft Excel is like a Hallmark movie. 

Some of us can’t get enough of them and others just can’t stand it. 💔😬

Regardless of your preference, if you’re a manager or business owner, you’ll probably have to rely on Excel for business insights. 

Tools like Microsoft Excel graphs are helpful for data analysis and tracking.
And wayyy better than endless spreadsheets that can easily trigger a migraine. 

Then why not turn your boring Excel spreadsheet into something interesting?

In this article, we’ll learn what an Excel graph is, how to make a graph in Excel, and its drawbacks. We’ll also suggest an alternative to create effortless graphs.

Let’s graph away!

What are Graphs & Charts in Microsoft Excel?

Graphs in Excel are graphical representations of variations in values of data points over a given period. 

In other words, it’s a diagram that represents changes in comparison to one or more variables.

Too technical? 👀

Take a look at the image for clarity:

Wondering if graphs and charts in Excel are the same?

Graphs are mostly numerical representations of data as it shows how one variable is affecting or changing another.

On the other hand, charts are visual representations where variables may or may not be associated. They’re also considered more aesthetically pleasing than graphs. For example, a pie chart. 🥧

However, if you’re wondering how to make a chart in Excel, it isn’t very different from making a graph.

But for now, let’s focus on the main plot: graphs!✨

Steps To Make a Graph in Excel

The first (and obvious step) is to open a new Excel file or a blank Excel worksheet.

Done?

Then let’s learn how to create a graph in Excel.

⭐️ Step 1: fill the Excel sheet with data

Start by populating your Excel spreadsheet with the data you need.

You may import this data from different software, insert it manually, or copy and paste it.

For our example, let’s say you’re an owner of a movie theater in a small town, and you often screen older movies. You probably want to track the sales of your tickets to see which movie is a hit so you can screen it frequently.

Let’s do that by comparing the ticket sales in January and February.

Here’s what your data might look like:

Column A contains the movie names.

Column B contains tickets sold in January.

And column C contains tickets sold in February.

You can bold headings and center align your text for better readability.

Done? Okay, get ready to pick a graph.

⭐️ Step 2: determine the Excel graph type you want

The type of graph you pick will depend on the data you have and the number of different parameters you want to track.

You’ll find the different graph types under the Excel Insert tab, in the Excel Ribbon, arranged close to one another like this:

Note: The Excel Ribbon is where you can find the Home, Insert, and Draw tabs.

Here are some of the different Excel graph or chart type options you can choose from:

• Line graph
• Column graph or bar graph
• Pie graph or chart
• Combo chart
• Area chart
• Scatter plot chart

➡️  Fun fact: Excel can help you decide the graph or chart type with the Recommended Charts (formerly known as Chart Wizard) option. 

If you want to take notes of trends (increase or decrease) over time, then a line graph is perfect.

But for a long time frame and more data, a bar graph is the best option.

We’ll use these two graphs for the purpose of this Excel tutorial.

How To Create a Line Graph in Excel – 3 Steps

A line graph in Excel typically has two axes (horizontal and vertical) to function. 

You need to enter the data in two columns.

Lucky for us, we’ve already done this when creating the ticket sales data table.

⭐️ Step 1: select data to turn into a line graph

Click and drag from the top-left cell (A1) in your ticket sales data to the bottom-right cell (C7) to select. Don’t forget to include column headers.

This will highlight all the data you want to display in your line graph.

⭐️ Step 2: insert line graph

Now that you’ve selected your data, it’s time to add the line graph.

Look for the line graph icon under the Insert tab.

With the data selected, go to Insert > Line. Click on the icon, and a dropdown menu will appear to select the type of line chart you want. 

For this example, we’ll choose the fourth 2-D line graph (Line with Markers).

Excel will add your line graph representing your selected data series.

You’ll then notice the names of the movies appear on the horizontal axis and the number of tickets sold on the vertical axis. 

⭐️ Step 3: customize your line graph

After adding the line graph, you’ll notice a new tab called Chart Design on your Excel Ribbon. 

Select the Design tab to make the line graph your own by choosing the chart style you prefer.

You can also change the graph’s title.

Select the Chart Title > double click to name > type in the name you wish to call it. To save it, simply click anywhere outside the graph’s title box or chart area.

We’ll name our graph “Movie Ticket Sales.” 

Anything else you need to tweak?

If you spot anything, now is the time to make those edits! 

For example, here you can see The Godfather and Modern Times are smooshed together.

Let’s give them some space.

How?

Just drag any corner of the graph until it’s how you desire. 

These are just some examples. You can customize every chart element if you like including the Axis Labels (the color of the lines that represent each data point, etc.)

Just double click on any chart element to open a sidebar for formatting like this:

That’s it! You’ve successfully created a line graph in Excel!

Now, let’s learn how to make a bar graph. 📊

3 Steps To Create a Bar Graph in Excel

Any Excel graph or Excel chart begins with a populated sheet. 

We’ve already done this, so copy and paste the movie ticket sales data to a new sheet tab in the same Excel workbook.

⭐️ Step 1: select data to turn into a bar graph

Like step 1 for the line graph, you need to select the data you wish to turn into a bar graph.

Drag from cell A1 to C7 to highlight the data.

⭐️ Step 2: insert bar graph

Highlight your data, go to the Insert tab, and click on the Column chart or graph icon. A dropdown menu should appear.

Select Clustered Bar under the 2-D bar options. 

Note: you can choose a different type of bar chart option like a 3D clustered column or 2D stacked bar, etc.

As soon as you click on the bar graph option, it’ll be added to your Excel sheet.

⭐️ Step 3: customize your Excel bar graph

Now, you can go to the Chart Design tab in the Excel Ribbon to personalize it.

Click on the Design tab to apply a bar style you prefer from the many options. 

You know the next step! Change the bar graph’s title.

Select the Excel Chart Title > double click on the title box > type in “Movie Ticket Sales.”

Then click anywhere on the excel sheet to save it.

Note: you can also add other graph elements such as Axis Title, Data Label, Data Table, etc., with the Add Chart Element option. You’ll find it under the Chart Design tab.

And that’s a wrap. 🎬 

You’ve successfully created a bar graph in Excel!

Well, that was fun. 

But the question is, do you have the time for graphs in your busy work schedule?

And that’s just the teaser when it comes to Excel graph drawbacks.

Read on to watch the full movie. 👀

Bonus: Check out these Excel Alternatives!

Create Effortless Graphs With ClickUp

If ClickUp were a Hallmark movie, graphs and this project management tool would be the perfect match. 

A forever kind-of-love. ❤️

Whether you want to create graphs to monitor time, projects, people, ticket sales… you name it because we can do it all within a few clicks.

All without the drawbacks of using Excel!

Excel can be:

• Time-consuming and manual
• Complex and pricey
• Error-prone

The best part?

Most of those functions are automated without manual data entry. Phew.

1. Line Chart Widgets

The Line Chart Widget is a Custom Widget on our Dashboard. Use this ClickUp production to visualize literally anything in the form of a line graph.

It can be tracking profits, total daily sales, or how many movies you’ve watched in a month. 

Like we said, a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g!

And that’s not it. You can visualize your data in many different ways too.

Just use any of these Custom Widgets:

• Calculations
• Bar charts
• Battery chart
• Pie chart
• And more

2. Gantt Chart view

Just like it’s difficult to love just one movie genre, we totally get that graphs alone don’t work.

And that’s why we have charts too!

Specifically, ClickUp’s Gantt chart, an interactive chart with live updates and progress tracking that can help you:

• Plan projects
• Assign tasks and assignees
• Schedule a timeline
• Manage dependencies
• And more

3. Table view

If you’re a fan of the Excel grids, ClickUp has your back.

Starring… ClickUp Table view! 

This view lets you visualize your tasks in the spreadsheet style.

It’s super fast and allows easy navigation between fields, bulk edits, and data export.

➡️ Fun fact: you can quickly copy and paste your table’s data into other programs, like MS Excel. Just click and drag to highlight the cells you want to copy.

And that was just the trailer for you. 📽️

Here are some more powerful ClickUp features in store for:

• Send and receive emails right from your project management tool with Email in ClickUp
• Work even when the wifi acts up with Offline Mode
• Work how you like with multiple ClickUp Views, including Calendar, Mind Maps, Chat, etc.
• Reduce your workload with ClickUp Automations
• Track time spent on tasks with ClickUp’s Native Time Tracker
• Share Table view or Dashboards with clients and external users using Public Sharing and Permissions
• View all graphs and charts on the go with ClickUp mobile apps

Now Showing: ClickUp 🎥🍿

You can surely make tons of graphs in Excel. 

No doubt there.

But does that make it a smart choice?

I mean, if you have to Google how to make a graph in Excel, maybe that’s your red flag. 🚩

Tools are supposed to make your life easier. 

Take ClickUp, for instance.

Our project management tool can be your graph maker, chart creator, spreadsheet builder, time tracker, workload manager…

It’s a hallmark for a quality tool that can be your all-in-one solution.

Get your ClickUp ticket for free today and enjoy watching your graphs come to life in minutes!

Related readings:

• How to create Gantt charts in Excel
• How to create a Kanban board in Excel
• How to create a burndown chart in Excel
• How to create a flowchart in Excel
• How to show dependencies in Excel
• How to create a KPI dashboard in Excel
• How to create a dashboard in Excel
• How to create a database in Excel
• How to make a work breakdown structure in Excel

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.