How to Use Excel Chart - Step by Step

"A picture is worth a thousand words" – is also true in Data Analysis. Today we will discuss about pictures which expresses the data, the Excel Charts or Graphs.

Why draw Chart or Graph ?

The goal of data preparation using functions or excel formula is to analyze that data and to get productive and growth oriented management decisions.

If you are linked with data analysis (even you make single report based on some data) then you will understand the importance of Charts in Excel after this example. Let suppose there are 365 rows in a column as sales value for the entire financial year day after day and you need to find out the deviations throughout the financial year. I mean to say 'On which days the Sales volume was low ?' or 'On which days the Sales volume was High or at peak ?'   Obviously, we can use Excel’s inbuilt functions or complex Excel formulas but a chart can solve this in few minutes and we can avoid complex excel formulas.

Besides in Power Point Presentations, Charts are very important as the actual status or performance will better be understood using charts.

Today I will discuss about Charts in excel, the basic and then how to use it. If you know how to create or use charts you can skip this article but reading a topic again might give you some new idea.

There are few types of charts,  

The available Charts in Microsoft Excel are as below.

1.       Column or Bar Chart

2.       Line or Area Chart

3.       Pie or Doughnut Chart

4.       Hierarchy Chart

5.       Statistic Chart

6.       Scatter or Bubble Chart

7.       Waterfall or Stock Chart

8.       Combo Chart

9.       Surface or Rader Chart

And finally

10.   PivotChart.

In this article, we will discuss about those charts which we use very frequently and later I will discuss about the rest charts.

Let us first Know the names of the Charts to identify the charts by its' name, please follow the below images, for the shake of an example I have taken few City names in United States like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego and fictitious Potentiality and Sales.

Pie or Doughnut Chart : 

A pie chart (or a circle chart) is a circular statistical graphic which is divided into slices to illustrate numerical proportion. In a pie chart, the arc length of each slice (and consequently its central angle and area), is proportional to the quantity it represents.

Pie or Doughnut Chart

Column Chart or Bar Chart : Column charts are used to compare values across categories by using vertical bars.

Column Chart

Column Chart

Line chart : A line chart is a graph that shows a series of data points connected by straight lines.

Line Chart

Area Chart : An area chart is a line chart with the areas below the lines filled with colors. Use a stacked area chart to display the contribution of each value to a total over time.

Area Chart

Combo Chart : A Combo or Combination chart is a chart that combines two or more chart types in a single char e.g., Column or Bar Chart with a Line Chart.

Combo Chart

How to insert a Chart?

v  To insert a Chart, you need to move the menu INSERT, you will find Charts Group as shown in the picture.

Chart Menu Option in Ribbon

v  Select the entire data or you can select specific columns to get a chart, we will discuss later.

Potentiality & Sales Table

v  Now choose any chart (to understand the basic chart functionality, later we will use the most appropriate chart).

v  For example, I choose the Column Chart and the first Chart, as shown below which is a very basic chart, we need to ‘decorate’ it.

Default Excel Chart

v  This chart is very basic without a Chart Title (always give Title to your chart), to give a title to your chart just click on the Letter CHART TITLE, a text box will appear

v  You can now remove the default title and put your own title

Quick Format Buttons

v  If you click on the chart, you will find three buttons at the right side of the chart, these are the quick chart formatting tools, you can even change the Chart Type.

v  But let us concentrate on the New Helper window at the right side named as Format Chart Area. In this area, you can format your chart, for example, you can give border, border color, border type and you can change the corner to rounded corner, you can fill the space in the charts etc.

Format Shape of a Chart

Format Shape of a Chart

v  In the above image, there are three options, Fill & Line, Effects & Size & Properties. Using these tools, you can easily modify your chart.

v  If you right click your mouse selecting the chart, a drop-down menu opens as shown in the below image, from here you can also modify your charts, the options are self-explanatory.

Right Click Menu

v  Two additional new menu opens in the ribbon, if any chart is selected, as shown in the below image, one is Design menu and the other is Format menu. You can choose any design and format Charts very quickly.

These are the basic of Chart or Graphs and their formatting, in the next article I will show you some advanced use of Charts in Excel as well as in PowerPoint Presentations.

I hope you have enjoyed this article.
Thank you for reading… Take care…