How to Create Charts in Excel: Types & Examples

By : Charlotte Miller Charlotte Miller
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⚡ Smart Summary

Charts in Excel turn rows and columns of numbers into a visual that reveals trends and comparisons at a glance. This page explains what a chart is, the main chart types and when to use each, the parts of a chart, and a step by step column chart example.

  • 📊 Core Definition: A chart is a visual representation of data in columns and rows, used to analyse trends and patterns.
  • 🥧 Pie Chart: Best when items are quantified and shown as percentages of a whole.
  • 📶 Bar and Column: Compare values across a few categories, horizontally for a bar chart and vertically for a column chart.
  • 📈 Line Chart: Best for trends over a period of time such as months or years.
  • 🧩 Combo Chart: Combines two chart types to highlight different kinds of information together.
  • 🖱️ Creation: Select the data, open the INSERT tab, choose a chart type, and refine it with the Chart Tools that appear.
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How to Create Charts in Excel

A picture is worth of thousand words; a chart is worth of thousand sets of data. In this tutorial, we are going to learn how we can use graph in Excel to visualize our data.

What is a chart?

A chart is a visual representative of data in both columns and rows. Charts are usually used to analyse trends and patterns in data sets. 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 2013. If you have a lower version, then some of the more advanced features may not be available to you.

Item 2012 2013 2014 2015
Desktop Computers 20 12 13 12
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.

S/N CHART TYPE WHEN SHOULD I USE IT?
EXAMPLE
1 Pie Chart When you want to quantify items and show them as percentages.

Types of Charts in MS Excel
2 Bar Chart When you want to compare values across a few categories. The values run horizontally

Types of Charts in MS Excel
3 Column chart When you want to compare values across a few categories. The values run vertically

Types of Charts in MS Excel
4 Line chart When you want to visualize trends over a period of time i.e. months, days, years, etc.

Types of Charts in MS Excel
5 Combo Chart When you want to highlight different types of information

Types of Charts in MS Excel

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The importance of charts

  • Allows you to visualize data graphically
  • It’s easier to analyse trends and patterns using charts in MS Excel
  • Easy to interpret compared to data in cells

Parts of an Excel Chart

Before creating a chart, it helps to know the elements that make it readable. Each element can be switched on or off from the Chart Elements button, the plus sign that appears next to a selected chart.

Element Purpose
Chart title Names the chart so the reader knows what it shows
Axis titles Label the horizontal category axis and the vertical value axis
Legend Identifies which colour belongs to which data series
Data labels Print the exact value on each bar, column, or slice
Gridlines Light lines that help the eye read a value against the axis
Data series The set of related values, such as the sales of one product across the years

💡 Tip: Add data labels when the exact numbers matter, and remove gridlines for a cleaner look. Both are toggled from the Chart Elements plus sign without touching the source data.

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

Creating Charts in Excel

To get the desired chart you have to follow the following steps

Creating Charts in Excel

  • Select the data you want to represent in graph
  • Click on INSERT tab from the ribbon
  • Click on the Column chart drop down button
  • Select the chart type you want

You should be able to see the following chart

Creating Charts in Excel

Tutorial Exercise

When you select the chart, the ribbon activates the following tab

Tutorial Exercise

Try to apply the different chart styles, and other options presented in your chart.

Download the above Excel Template

FAQs

Both compare values across categories. A column chart draws the values vertically, and a bar chart draws them horizontally. A bar chart is handy when the category names are long, because they fit better on the left.

Yes. A chart is linked to its source range, so editing a value in a cell redraws the chart automatically. This is why charts are built from cell references rather than typed numbers.

A line chart is best for a trend over time, because it connects the points and shows the direction clearly. A column chart also works for a few time periods, but a line chart reads better across many.

Yes. The Recommended Charts feature and AI tools such as Copilot in Excel read the shape of the data and suggest a suitable chart type, then create it. The user can still switch to another type afterwards.

Yes. AI assistants read the chart data and describe the trend in plain language, for example that laptop sales stayed steady while printer sales swung sharply. The user verifies the summary against the figures.

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