Charts in Excel – Basics – Healthy Food Near Me

Contents

Chart types
Chart elements
How to build a chart in Excel

In most cases, it is difficult to read Excel workbooks that contain a large amount of information. Fortunately, Excel has a great data visualization tool – charting. In this lesson, we will get acquainted with the main types of charts, what elements they consist of, and also build our first chart.

Charts in Excel are capable of graphically representing data, which makes it easier to perceive large amounts of information and evaluate it. Excel offers a wide variety of chart types. Among this variety, you can choose exactly the diagram that best suits your needs. To get the most out of charts, you need to know how to use them in Excel. So, let’s get to know each other.

Chart types

As you already know, Excel has a wide variety of chart types, each with its own benefits. Below we will take a look at some of them:

1. Histogram

The histogram is one of the most common types of charts. Bar charts use vertical bars to represent data. They can be used in a wide variety of situations, but they are most often used to compare values.

2. Graph

Graphs, along with bar charts, are also very popular. Graphs are ideal for showing continuous data changes as well as showing trends. The points on the graph are connected by lines, allowing you to see the dynamics over time.

3. Pie charts

Pie charts are suitable for showing proportions, i.e. parts of something relative to the whole. Each value is represented as a fraction (sector) of the sum of all values (circle). A pie chart is built for one data series and, as a rule, contains up to 5-8 sectors. This approach is very useful when you need to compare data with each other.

The values used to plot the pie chart must be positive. Otherwise, Excel converts them to positive by automatically discarding the minus sign.

4. Bar chart

Bar charts are the same histograms rotated by 90 degrees, i.e. vertical columns are used to present information, but horizontal ones.

5. Area charts

Area charts are very similar to line charts, except that the areas below the lines are filled with color.

6. Surface charts

Surface charts in Excel allow you to present information in a 3D perspective. These charts are best suited for large amounts of data so that you can see the whole range of information at once.

Chart elements

Having dealt with the types of charts, the next thing to do is to understand what it consists of. Charts in Excel contain 5 main elements, let’s look at them:

Chart title must clearly describe what is presented on it.
vertical axis (also known as the y-axis) is the vertical part of the chart. The vertical axis displays the values of the columns, which is why it is called the value axis. In the current example, the measurement value is the net sales revenue of each salesperson.
Data series consists of connected points (values) on the chart. In the current example, the blue columns reflect the sales revenue of Robert Privalny. We understand that the revenue is related to this seller, thanks to the legend on the right side of the chart. Analyzing the data series, you can see that Robert was the top seller in the first and third quarters and second in the second and fourth.
Legend indicates the belonging of each row to someone or something. In the current example, the legend contains 3 colors with their respective salespeople. Seeing the legend, it is quite easy to determine which seller each of the columns belongs to.
Horizontal axis (also known as the x-axis) is the horizontal part of the chart. The horizontal axis represents the categories. In this example, each quarter contains its own group.

How to build a chart in Excel

Select the cells you want to chart based on, including column headings and row headings. These cells are the data source for the chart. In our example, we have selected the cell range A1:F6.
On the Advanced tab Insert, select the desired chart. In our example, we will choose histogram.
Select the appropriate histogram type from the drop-down menu.
The selected chart will appear on the Excel sheet.