Charts and Sparklines

Creating a Chart

Select the data (including headers) → Insert → choose a chart type:

• Column / Bar - compare categories.
• Line - trends over time.
• Pie / Doughnut - proportions (few categories only).
• Combo - a column plus a line on a second axis.

Chart Essentials

• Chart Title - tell the reader what the chart proves.
• Axis titles - units for the Y axis especially.
• Data labels - show the exact values on the bars/lines (Chart Design → Add Chart Element).
• Legend - needed when series are colored differently.

Click the + sign next to a selected chart to toggle elements and styles quickly.

Editing Data Behind a Chart

Right-click a chart → Select Data to change which ranges feed it. Charts live-update when source cells change.

Filtering a Chart with Slicers

Convert the source data to a Table, create a PivotChart or chart, then Insert → Slicer and connect it - clicking the slicer filters the chart interactively.

Sparklines

Tiny charts inside a single cell (Insert → Sparklines: Line/Column/Win-Loss) - perfect for dashboards with one row per product:

Product | Jan | Feb | Mar | Trend
Widgets | 10  | 15  | 12  |[sparkline]

Key Points

• Pick the chart that answers the question: compare, trend, or share.
• Labels beat legends for clarity; titles beat silence.
• Sparklines add trend context inside data tables without chart clutter.