Charts in Microsoft Excel®
A brief overview, prepared by Pamela Peterson Drake, James Madison University
Creating a chart in Microsoft Excel® requires a few, simple steps:
Step 1: Create the worksheet that contains the data.
Step 2: Highlight the data to be graphed and then “Insert” a “Chart” using that data.
Step 3: Customize the chart to your preferences by double-clicking on an item and then changing its
format.
Step 1: Create the worksheet that contains the data.
Suppose you wish to create a chart in Microsoft Excel® that describes a company’s profit ratios over a
period of years. You’ve gathered and input the following data into your worksheet:
A
B
Year
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
Operating
income
11,006
11,720
8,272
9,545
9,034
1
2
3
4
5
6
$
$
$
$
$
C
Net
$
$
$
$
$
income
9,421
7,346
5,355
7,531
8,168
D
$
$
$
$
$
Revenues
22,956
25,296
28,365
32,187
36,835
Calculate the profit margins in additional columns that use this data:
A
B
Year
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
Operating
income
11,006
11,720
8,272
9,545
9,034
1
2
3
4
5
6
$
$
$
$
$
C
Net
$
$
$
$
$
income
9,421
7,346
5,355
7,531
8,168
For example, the entry into cell E2 is
And the entry into cell F2 is
D
Revenues
$
22,956
$
25,296
$
28,365
$
32,187
$
36,835
E
Operating
profit margin
F
Net profit
margin
=b2/d2
=c2/d2
Appropriate copying and pasting of these formulas will produce the cell values:
A
B
Year
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
Operating
income
11,006
11,720
8,272
9,545
9,034
1
2
3
4
5
6
$
$
$
$
$
C
Net
$
$
$
$
$
income
9,421
7,346
5,355
7,531
8,168
D
$
$
$
$
$
Revenues
22,956
25,296
28,365
32,187
36,835
E
Operating
profit margin
47.944%
46.331%
29.163%
29.655%
24.526%
F
Net profit
margin
41.039%
29.040%
18.879%
23.398%
22.175%
Step 2: Highlight the data to be graphed and then “Insert” a “Chart” using that data.
Highlight the data you want to chart:
A
B
Year
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
Operating
income
11,006
11,720
8,272
9,545
9,034
1
2
3
4
5
6
$
$
$
$
$
C
Net
$
$
$
$
$
income
9,421
7,346
5,355
7,531
8,168
D
Revenues
$
22,956
$
25,296
$
28,365
$
32,187
$
36,835
E
Operating
profit margin
47.944%
46.331%
29.163%
29.655%
24.526%
F
Net profit
margin
41.039%
29.040%
18.879%
23.398%
22.175%
Then click on “Insert” and then choose “Chart” The Chart Wizard should appear and you will choose
your chart / graph from the types shown.
To make sure that you have labels on your x-axis, select the tab in the dialog for “Series”. In the
, and
Category (X) axis labels, click on the spreadsheet icon in the far right of the blank space,
then select the X-axis labels:
A
B
Year
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
Operating
income
11,006
11,720
8,272
9,545
9,034
1
2
3
4
5
6
$
$
$
$
$
C
Net
$
$
$
$
$
income
9,421
7,346
5,355
7,531
8,168
D
Revenues
$
22,956
$
25,296
$
28,365
$
32,187
$
36,835
E
Operating
profit margin
47.944%
46.331%
29.163%
29.655%
24.526%
F
Net profit
margin
41.039%
29.040%
18.879%
23.398%
22.175%
And then click the spreadsheet icon after you make your selection. Click on “Next” and then follow
the dialog box for “Chart Options” and you’ve got yourself a chart.
For example, without any special adjustments, the chart using the above procedure produces the
following graph (that has been copied from Excel® and shrunk to fit below):
60.000%
50.000%
40.000%
Operating profit margin
30.000%
Net profit margin
20.000%
10.000%
0.000%
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
Step 3: Customize the chart to your preferences by double-clicking on an item and then
changing its format.
Now you get to add your own style to the chart. You can make your graph more readable by adding
axis titled, adding or removing gridlines, moving the legend around to the top or wherever you’d like,
and adding data or labels to graph items.
But with a little adjustment, it could look like:
Operating and net profit margins for
Microsoft Corporation
2000-2004
50%
Operating profit margin
40%
Net profit margin
30%
Margin
20%
10%
0%
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
Fiscal year
Just double-click on the item you want to change and a dialog box will open up and you can “play”
with the item. For example, in the above graph, I did the following:
• Format chart: Removed the border and area background; Changed the fonts
• Format axis: Changed the y-axis format
•
Format data series: Changed the gap width and overlap; removed border; added shading;
added fill effects
Of course, you could get carried away and do too much stuff to your chart, which will cause it to lose
effectiveness. Consider the following, which is a bit too much “formatting”:
Operating and net profit margins for Microsoft
Corporation
2000-2004
Operating profit margin
Net profit margin
60%
50%
40%
Margin 30%
20%
10%
0%
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
Fiscal year
•
If you would like to view the Excel® workbook that was used in this example, check out:
http://www.fau.edu/~ppeter/fin3403/tools/excel.xls
•
Other instructional help with Excel® charting:
o http://www.ncsu.edu/labwrite/res/gt/gt-cul-home.html
o http://www.sun-associates.com/mercer/handouts/excelmer.pdf
o http://www.ehow.com/how_9698_create-bar-graph.html