Bar Graph in Excel — All 4 Types Explained Easily (Excel Sheet Included)
Note: This guide on how to make a bar graph in Excel is suitable for all Excel versions.
Bar graphs are one of the most simple yet powerful visual tools in Excel. Bar graphs are very similar to column charts, except that the bars are aligned horizontally.
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They are very useful when you want to compare categorical data across variables. Use it especially when the category names are long or to display any sort of duration value.
In this guide, I’ll teach you how to make a bar graph in Excel the easy way, with plenty of illustrations. By the end of this article, you should be able to create and format bar graphs in Excel with ease.
Please find the sample Excel Sheet used in this guide below. You can use it to follow along with me.
In this guide, I’ll cover,
- Bar Graph in Excel – An Overview
- How to Make a Bar Graph in Excel?
- How to Format a Bar Chart in Excel?
- Let’s Wrap Up
Bar Graph in Excel – An Overview
An Excel bar graph or bar chart plots horizontal bars of data across different categories in a simple way. The X-axis indicates the values of the secondary variable and the Y-axis represents the various categories.
This is just a simple bar graph example. Bar charts in Excel can be tweaked to include multiple variables, display percentages, stack bars of data etc.
I’ll explain all these with examples.
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How to Make a Bar Graph in Excel?
To make any bar graph, you should prepare your data beforehand. It should have one categorical variable and one or more secondary variables. Now let me show you how to create various types of Excel bar graphs.
How to create a Simple Bar Graph?
To create a simple bar graph, follow these steps:
- Get your Data ready. Make sure it has one categorical variable and one quantitative secondary variable. In my example from Sheet1, I have the time duration of 6 tasks.
- Select your Data with headers.
- Locate and click on the 2-D Clustered Bars option under the Charts group in the Insert Tab.
- Your bar graph will now appear in the same sheet. You can edit its formatting if needed.
How to Make a Bar Graph with Multiple Variables?
To create a bar graph with multiple variables, follow these steps. Refer to Sheet2 from the sample Excel file to follow along with me.
- Make sure your data has one categorical variable and multiple quantitative secondary variables.
- Select your Data with headers
- Locate and click on the 2-D Clustered Bars option under the Charts group in the Insert Tab.
- Your bar graph will now appear in the same sheet. You can edit its formatting if needed and change its title.
How to create a Stacked Bar Graph in Excel?
Use a stacked bar graph when you need to compare parts of a whole across categories.
To create a stacked bar graph with multiple variables, follow these steps. Refer to Sheet3 from the sample Excel file to follow along with me.
- Select your data with the headers.
- Locate and click on the 2-D Stacked Bars option under the Charts group in the Insert Tab.
- Your stacked bar graph will now appear in the same sheet. Edit its formatting if needed and change its title.
Add data labels by clicking on the “Plus” symbol next to the chart and selecting the Data Labels option.
How to Make a Percentage Bar Graph in Excel?
Use a percentage bar graph when you need to see how much percentage each variable contributes to the total across categories.
To create a percentage bar graph, follow these steps.
Refer to Sheet4 from the sample Excel file to follow along with me.
- Select your data with the headers. It must contain variables that add up to a total or make a part of the total.
- Locate and click on the 100% Stacked Bars option under the Charts group in the Insert Tab.
- Your percentage bar graph will now appear in the same sheet. Edit its formatting if needed and change its title.
Add data labels by clicking on the “Plus” symbol next to the chart and selecting the Data Labels option.
How to Format a Bar Chart in Excel?
To illustrate how to format a bar chart, I am using the bar chart from Sheet1. But this guide is applicable to all types of bar charts. Follow these steps:
- You can change the Chart title by double-clicking on it and typing in the new title.
- You can add Chart Elements by clicking on the “Plus” symbol next to the chart and choosing the required element.
Select or deslect the chart elements you want to include in the bar chart. For example you can remove the gridlines from the background by unchecking the gridline box.
- To format the bar graph right click on the chart area and select the Format Chart Area option.
You can change the Fill type, border colour, thickness etc. Experiment with all of these options or just change things you need.
- Similarly, click on the plot area or the axes to edit their formatting in the “Format Plot Area” or “Format Axis” panes respectively. Here, the axis colour, thickness, data label appearance etc can be edited.
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FAQs
What is a subdivided bar graph?
A subdivided bar graph is nothing but a stacked bar graph, which shows how different variables add up to a total. It is used to easily find the contribution of each variable.
What are the types of bar graphs?
There are actually 4 types of bar graphs available in Excel.
Simple bar graph which shows bars of data for one variable.
Grouped bar graph which shows bars of data for multiple variables.
Stacked bar graph which shows the contribution of each variable to the total.
Percentage bar graph which shows the percentage of contribution to the total.
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Let’s Wrap Up
We are at the end of this guide on bar graphs in Excel. This article explained how to create various types of bar graphs in Excel. I have also shown you how to edit the formatting of any type of bar graph with illustrations.
If you have any questions regarding bar graphs in Excel or any other Excel feature, please let us know in the comments section below. We at Simon Sez It are always happy to help.
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Adam Lacey
Adam Lacey is an Excel enthusiast and online learning expert. He combines these two passions at Simon Sez IT where he wears a number of different hats. When Adam isn't fretting about site traffic or Pivot Tables, you'll find him on the tennis court or in the kitchen cooking up a storm.
