When you have numerical data pigeonholed in Excel tables that are difficult to read and present to someone, you must always draw a graph, so as to summarize the data in an image that immediately gives a glance of the situation without getting lost in reading and comparing numbers. Creating graphs and function graphs is one of the most popular and used Excel features, so learning how to do them will allow you to perform complete and professional jobs, even when we work from home.
In this guide we will show you how to draw a graph or function with Excel, focusing on the types of graph most used in the world of work and on the data to be modified within the graph itself to make it unique.
READ ALSO: How to create charts on Excel
Draw chart or function with Excel
There are various types of graph that we can create on Excel, it is up to us to choose the one best suited to the type of data inserted inside the cells. If we don't have Excel, we can get it by reading our guide on All Ways to Use and Download Office for Free .Prerequisites for creating a chart
To create a chart we must first of all have coherent data inserted inside the Excel cells, better still if already formatted in the form of a table.We then open Excel, we begin to insert the data in the rows and columns, select all the cells engaged and press at the top on the Format as table button.
Once the table has been prepared, we can proceed with the creation of one of the recommended graphs in the rest of the guide. If we want to find out how to create elaborate tables for our data, we invite you to read our dedicated article How to make a table on Excel .
How to create a bar chart
One of the easiest charts to create is the histogram or bar chart, very useful for comparing values between them.To achieve this, select the data or table to be included in the graph, press at the top on the Insert menu then press the Insert Histogram or bar graph button.
In the window that appears, we can choose the histogram from the graphs available in 2D or even in 3D, much more beautiful to look at. If the proposed models do not convince us, we can view other graph models by pressing the Other histograms button.
How to create a pie or donut chart
The pie chart is one of the most representative within an Excel document, having the appearance of a sliced pie of various sizes (based on the values entered). This is used when it is necessary to show how the percentage quantity of one category is much larger than the others, especially when it comes to statistical data.To create one, select the data or the spreadsheet table, go to the Insert menu and press Insert pie or ring chart .
Again we can choose between a 2D pie or a 3D pie, in addition to the ring chart, a particular type of circular pie chart with a hole in the center. If you are not satisfied with the proposed models, we can view others by clicking on the item Other pie charts .
How to create a line chart
The line graph allows you to view the changes over time, to draw the trend or evolution of a certain quantity with the progress of months or years. For example, one can thus draw the trend of expenses in the last 5 years or to compare the growth of male population compared to female population in the last 10 years.To create one, select the data or table to insert, go to the Insert menu and press on Insert line or area chart .
We will thus be able to create various types of line graphs; in addition to this form of graph we can an Area graph, where the area under the line is filled with color.
To view other types of similar graphs, just press on the item Other line graphs .
How to create a scatter chart
One particular type of chart is the scatter chart, which is used by scientists and statisticians, to plot data points and show correlations when they are not evident. For example, the success rates for a medical therapy can be shown in relation to time in the hospital or to show that those who live in a search area get sick more than those who live in other cities.To create one we will have to select the data as seen in the previous graphs, go to the Insert menu and press the Insert scatterplot (X, Y) or bubble graph button .
Similar to the scatter chart is the bubble chart, which allows you to have a more fun display when you have to trace three data dimensions (the third dimension is indicated by the size of the bubble) and to represent two sets of data with a single chart .
Also in this case we can view other types of similar graphs by clicking on the item Other scatter plots .
How to create an advanced graph (surface, waterfall, funnel etc.)
The more complex graphs to be created can be inserted by going to the Insert menu and clicking on the Insert waterfall, funnel, stock, surface or radar chart button .
These types of graphs are difficult to create, for this reason they are usually reserved only for those who have been chewing on economics and finance for many years and already know well every function and calculation available in Excel.
How to complete and beautify Excel charts
As soon as we have added the graph to our spreadsheet, we will have to insert vertical or horizontal labels, which will then be added manually to make it clear to the viewer what they mean. To add title and descriptions of the chart, all we have to do is press the + button in the upper right corner and make sure that Axes Titles is selected.
By placing the mouse on Titles of the axes, a small arrow appears to the right which leads you to choose whether to include them both or only one of the two axes, the horizontal or the vertical one; after adding them, click on the words Axis title and Graphic title to modify them. From the + menu you can also add data labels and, depending on the type of chart, a trend line.
Within a chart, you can change the default text formatting .
To do this we will have to select the text of a single title and double click on it to display the window for editing the font.
You can also change the font of the whole chart, selecting the chart and choosing the font from the Home menu and from the Font section; in this way you can also change the size of the text. This way of working can be carried out with every element of the graph: labels, titles, data series and axes.
Nothing prevents you from inserting titles written within the particular editorial graphics of Word Art as titles, much more captivating. To do this, just go to the Insert menu, press the Text button and expand WordArt .
The added WordArt box can then be made smaller and placed where it should be.
By pressing the brush-shaped button, visible after clicking on the graph, you can instead try different graphic styles among those available and also try different combinations of colors to distinguish the various data.
You can also choose a custom color, from the fill options; by selecting the columns of the histogram (just double click on one of the columns) and pressing with the right button on one of them or, from the menu of the column on the right, we can choose to use a soft fill and customize the appearance of each column or of every part of the chart.
We can also use an image or texture fill and insert a custom background from an image file under the graph (possibly able to view the whole graph without much effort).
Finally, we can use the funnel button is for filters inside the graph, in order to exclude some columns from the representation.
This button is very useful when we have a lot of data inside the graph and we want to customize it carefully, so as not to leave anything to chance.
Conclusions
Excel comes with a large amount of charts to use and the creation of a good chart is among the most requested skills when we have to present a job or a collection of data.In addition to Excel, we can also create charts online, without any program, as seen in our Sites guide to create pie charts, lines and bars, free and online .
If instead we need to create invoices quickly and quickly on Excel, we invite you to read our article How to Create an invoice with Excel, from scratch, simple and personalized .
We still consider ourselves inexperienced in using Excel "> Getting good with Excel on spreadsheets (also with LibreOffice and Google Drive).
