How To Select Data For Graph In Excel

Edifice charts and graphs is one of the best ways to visualize data in a clear, easy-to-understand fashion. (Check out this guide for making better charts to larn more.) However, it'south no surprise that some people get a niggling intimidated by the prospect of poking effectually in Microsoft Excel. (I absolutely adore Excel, merely I work in Marketing Operations, so it's pretty much a requirement that I similar the tool).

I thought I'd share a helpful video tutorial equally well as some step-by-step instructions for anyone out at that place who cringes at the thought of organizing a spreadsheet full of information into a chart that actually, you know, means something.

Here are the unproblematic steps you need to build a chart or graph in Excel.

Continue in mind there are many different versions of Excel, and so what yous see in the video above might not ever match upwardly exactly with what yous'll see in your version. In the video, I used Excel 2021 version 16.49 for Max Bone X.

To get the most updated instructions, I encourage you to follow the written instructions below (or download them every bit PDFs). Most of the buttons and functions you'll see and read are very similar across all versions of Excel.

Download Demo Information | Download Instructions (Mac) | Download Instructions (PC)

How to Make a Graph in Excel

1. Enter your data into Excel.
2. Choose one of nine graph and nautical chart options to brand.
3. Highlight your data and click 'Insert' your desired graph.
4. Switch the data on each centrality, if necessary.
5. Adjust your data's layout and colors.
6. Alter the size of your chart's legend and axis labels.
7. Change the Y-axis measurement options, if desired.
8. Reorder your data, if desired.
9. Championship your graph.
10. Consign your graph or chart.

1. Enter your data into Excel.

Showtime, you demand to input your data into Excel. You might have exported the data from elsewhere, like a slice of marketing software or a survey tool. Or peradventure you're inputting it manually.

In the example below, in Column A, I accept a listing of responses to the question, "Did inbound marketing demonstrate ROI?", and in Columns B, C, and D, I have the responses to the question, "Does your company have a formal sales-marketing agreement?" For case, Column C, Row 2 illustrates that 49% of people who have an SLA (service level agreement) also say that inbound marketing demonstrated ROI.

ii. Choose from the graph and nautical chart options.

In Excel, your options for charts and graphs include column (or bar) graphs, line graphs, pie graphs, scatter plots, and more. See how Excel identifies each one in the top navigation bar, as depicted below:

To find the chart and graph options, select Insert.

(For help figuring out which type of nautical chart/graph is best for visualizing your information, check out our gratuitous ebook, How to Use Data Visualization to Win Over Your Audience.)

3. Highlight your data and insert your desired graph into the spreadsheet.

In this instance, I'll employ a bar graph to visually nowadays the data. To make a bar graph, highlight the data and include the titles of the 10 and Y-centrality. Then, get to the Insert tab, and in the charts section, click the cavalcade icon. Choose the graph you wish from the dropdown window that appears.

In this example, I picked the first 2-dimensional cavalcade choice — just considering I adopt the apartment bar graphic over the 3-D look. See the resulting bar graph below.

iv. Switch the information on each axis, if necessary.

If yous desire to switch what appears on the Ten and Y axis, correct-click on the bar graph, click Select Information, and click Switch Row/Column. This volition rearrange which axes carry which pieces of data in the listing shown below. When you're finished, click OK at the bottom.

The resulting graph would look like this:

5. Adjust your data's layout and colors.

To change the layout of the labeling and fable, click on the bar graph, so click the Nautical chart Blueprint tab. Here, you tin can cull which layout you prefer for the chart championship, axis titles, and fable. In my example shown below, I clicked on the choice that displayed softer bar colors and legends below the chart.

To further format the fable, click on it to reveal the Format Legend Entry sidebar, as shown below. Here, y'all can change the fill color of the legend, which will in plough change the color of the columns themselves. To format other parts of your chart, click on them individually to reveal a respective Format window.

6. Change the size of your chart's legend and axis labels.

When you first make a graph in Excel, the size of your axis and legend labels might be a bit small, depending on the type of graph or chart you choose (bar, pie, line, etc.) Once y'all've created your chart, you'll want to beefiness up those labels and then they're legible.

To increment the size of your graph's labels, click on them individually and, instead of revealing a new Format window, click dorsum into the Domicile tab in the pinnacle navigation bar of Excel. Then, employ the font type and size dropdown fields to aggrandize or compress your chart'south legend and axis labels to your liking.

vii. Change the Y-axis measurement options, if desired.

To change the type of measurement shown on the Y axis, click on the Y-axis percentages in your chart to reveal the Format Axis window. Here, you can decide if you want to brandish units located on the Centrality Options tab, or if you want to change whether the Y-centrality shows percentages to 2 decimal places or to 0 decimal places.

Because my graph automatically sets the Y centrality'due south maximum percentage to 60%, I might want to change information technology manually to 100% to stand for my data on a more universal scale. To do so, I can select the Maximum choice — 2 fields down nether Premises in the Format Axis window — and change the value from 0.6 to 1.

The resulting graph would exist changed to expect like the one beneath (I increased the font size of the Y-centrality via the Habitation tab, so yous can run into the difference):

8. Reorder your data, if desired.

To sort the data so the respondents' answers announced in reverse order, right-click on your graph and click Select Information to reveal the same options window you lot chosen upward in Step 3 above. This time, click the upwardly and down arrows, as shown below, to contrary the order of your information on the nautical chart.

If you accept more than than two lines of data to adjust, you can also rearrange them in ascending or descending order. To do this, highlight all of your data in the cells above your chart, click Data and select Sort, equally shown below. You can cull to sort based on smallest to largest or largest to smallest, depending on your preference.

The resulting graph would look like this:

9. Title your graph.

Now comes the fun and piece of cake part: naming your graph. By at present, y'all might accept already figured out how to practice this. Here'south a simple clarifier.

Right subsequently making your chart, the title that appears will likely exist "Chart Title," or something similar depending on the version of Excel you lot're using. To change this label, click on "Nautical chart Title" to reveal a typing cursor. You tin can then freely customize your chart'due south title.

When you have a title you like, click Abode on the pinnacle navigation bar, and utilize the font formatting options to give your title the emphasis it deserves. Meet these options and my terminal graph beneath:

10. Export your graph or chart.

Once your nautical chart or graph is exactly the way you desire it, you lot can salve it as an epitome without screenshotting it in the spreadsheet. This method volition give you a clean epitome of your chart that can be inserted into a PowerPoint presentation, Canva document, or any other visual template.

To save your excel graph as a photograph, right-click on the graph and select Save as Moving picture….

In the dialogue box, proper noun the photograph of your graph, choose where to relieve it to on your computer, and cull the file type you'd like to save it equally. In this example, I'g saving it as a JPEG to my desktop folder. Finally, click Salve.

You'll have a clear photo of your graph or nautical chart that you can add to whatsoever visual pattern.

Visualize Information Like A Pro

That was pretty easy, right? With this step-by-step tutorial, you'll be able to rapidly create charts and graphs that visualize the nigh complicated data. Endeavor using this same tutorial with different graph types like a pie nautical chart or line graph to see what format tells the story of your data best. You can even practice customizing more data-heavy graphs and charts using the free excel templates for marketers beneath.

Editor'south notation: This post was originally published in June 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.

Originally published Jul xiv, 2021 1:15:00 PM, updated March 16 2022

How To Select Data For Graph In Excel,

Source: https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/how-to-build-excel-graph

Posted by: smithequilad.blogspot.com

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