How to Create Charts in Excel: Types &
Step by Step Examples
What is a chart?
A chart is a visual representation of
data in both columns and rows. It helps
users to visualize trends, patterns, and
relationships in the data. Charts make it
easier to understand large amounts of
data and to compare different sets of
values. Excel offers various types of
charts such as column, bar, line, pie,
scatter, and more, each suited for
different kinds of data analysis.
Let’s say you have been recording the
sales figures in Excel for the past three
years. Using charts, you can easily tell
which year had the most sales and which
year had the least. You can also draw
charts to compare set targets against
actual achievements.
We will use the following data for this
tutorial.
Note: we will be using Excel 2010. If you
have a lower version, then some of the
more advanced features may not be
available to you.
Item 2012201320142015
Desktop
20 12 13 12
Computers
Laptops 34 45 40 39
Monitors 12 10 17 15
Printers 78 13 90 14
Types of Charts in MS Excel
Different scenarios require different
types of charts. Towards this end, Excel
provides a number of chart types that you
can work with.
The type of chart that you choose depends
on the type of data that you want to
visualize. To help simplify things for
the users, Excel 2013 and above has an
option that analyses your data and makes
a recommendation of the chart type that
you should use.
The following table shows some of the
most commonly used Excel charts and when
you should consider using them.
CHART WHEN SHOULD I
EXAMPLE
TYPE USE IT?
When you want
to quantify
Pie
items and show
Chart
them as
percentages.
When you want
to compare
Bar
values across
Chart
a few
categories.
The values run
horizontally
Column When you want to
chart compare values
across a few
categories. The
values run
vertically
When you want
to visualize
trends over a
Line
period of time
chart
i.e. months,
days, years,
etc.
When you want
to highlight
Combo
different
Chart
types of
information
Shortcut Key to Create a Chart in MS
Excel
To quickly create a default chart in
Excel using a keyboard shortcut:
1. Select the Data Range:
Highlight the cells that contain the
data you want to include in the chart.
2. Use the Shortcut Key:
Press Alt + F1 to create a default
chart (typically an embedded chart) on
the current worksheet.
Press F11 to create a default chart1
(typically a column chart) on a new
chart sheet.
Step by step example of creating charts
in Excel
In this tutorial, we are going to plot a
simple column chart in Excel that will
display the sold quantities against the
sales year. Below are the steps to create
chart in MS Excel:
Open Excel
Enter the data from the sample data
table above
Your workbook should now look as
follows
The importance of charts
Allows you to visualize data
graphically
It’s easier to analyze trends and
patterns using charts in MS Excel
Easy to interpret compared to data in
cells
