How to Create a Venn Diagram in Excel? 2 Easy Ways
(Note: This guide on how to create a Venn diagram in Excel is suitable for all Excel versions including Office 365)
We all know how graphical presentation helps in better interpretation of data. Especially when a large amount of data is present with intricate details, pictorial representations greatly improve the readability of information.
The Venn diagram is one such very important way of data presentation.
In this guide, I will show you what a Venn diagram is, why we use them, and how to create a Venn diagram in Excel using 2 easy methods.
You’ll Learn:
Watch our video on how to create a Venn diagram in Excel
Related Reads:
How to Make a Pie Chart in Excel? A Step by Step Guide
How to Make a Pareto Chart Excel Dashboard? 4 Easy Steps
How to Create a Step Chart in Excel?
What Is a Venn diagram?
The concept of the Venn diagram is not new to us. We have learned them from our high school.
The Venn diagram consists of two or more circles. Each circle represents one type of data. To represent the similarities in the data, the circles can overlap either partially or completely.
This type of representation is mostly used to represent the similarities and differences between one or a group of data.
How to Create a Venn Diagram in Excel?
Creating a Venn diagram in Excel is pretty much similar to creating and customizing other graphs and charts.
Imagine: You run a cafe. To analyze the demand and supply, you want to take a survey from the visitors. People are given 3 choices and are asked to choose their favorite beverage: milk, tea, or coffee. They can even choose either both or all three of them.
I will show you how to create a Venn diagram in Excel in 2 simple ways.
By Using SmartArt
By using SmartArt, you can easily create a Venn diagram in Excel. Just select a suitable template, change the text, and add additional customization based on your preferences.
To create a SmartArt Venn diagram, navigate to Insert. Under Illustrations, from the dropdown click on SmartArt.
This opens up a Choose a SmartArt Graphic dialog box which shows the different templates to create a SmartArt graphic.
Click on Relationship. Scroll down and click on the Venn diagram you want to select.
Clicking on the choice of your Venn diagram shows up the description for the selected graphic. Click OK.
This populates the basic layout of the Venn diagram in the middle of the Excel sheet.
Now, let us see how to customize and format the Venn diagram based on your needs.
Move the Diagram
The circles usually populate the center of the chart. In some cases, this might be a little inconvenient to present other data. You can move the whole chart or individual circles depending on your preferences.
To move the whole chart, click anywhere near the circle. This shows anchor points all around the circle. Now, hover your mouse pointer anywhere on the borderline. This changes the mouse pointer to a four-sided pointer. Click and drag to move the chart.
If you want to resize the chart, place your mouse pointer on the anchor points. This changes the mouse pointer to a two-sided pointer. Click and drag to resize the chart.
Likewise, you can move each circle and resize them. Click on the circle. Use the borderline to move the circle and use the anchor points to resize the circles.
Add Text
The basic Venn diagram that populates the center of the sheet only contains [Text]. This pertains to the header of the individual circles of the Venn diagram.
You can change the headers of the individual circles by clicking on them and typing the relevant text. In most cases, Excel automatically adjusts the font size of the text to the size of the chart. You can also double-click on the text to change the font style, text, color, and alignment.
If there are more Venn elements, you can click on the arrow button to the left of the chart or click on the Text Pane under SmartArt Design to open the header pane. This way, you can change the headers of all the elements in one go.
Once you have added the headers, there will also be a necessity to add text inside the circles and in between the overlapping spaces.
You can add text inside the circles using bullets. Select the circle you want to add bullets. Navigate to SmartArt Design, under Create Graphic, and click on Add Bullet. This adds bullet points to the selected circle.
One drawback is that you cannot add text to the overlapping spaces using bullet points.
To do that, navigate to Insert. Under Illustrations, click the dropdown from Shapes and select the Text Box.
This gives you the liberty to enter any text anywhere you want. Left-click and drag the cursor to create a text box in your preferred place. Enter your text.
Though the text is added, you can see the text box is populating oddly. To remove that, right-click on the text box and click on Format Shape. This opens a Format Shape pane on the right side of the Excel sheet.
Under Shape Options, select No Fill in both Fill and Line dropdowns.
This removes the background of the text box. Now, you can go to the Text Options and customize the text to your preference.
Add a Shape
The basic Venn diagram only consists of three circles to represent three parameters. However, in some cases, there might be a need for more than three circles to represent data. In such cases, you can add shape to the existing Venn diagram.
Navigate to SmartArt Design. Under Create Graphic, click on Add Shape.
This adds another shape to the original Venn diagram to represent the data.
In case you feel like there is no need for an additional shape, you can always delete them. Just select the shape you want to delete and click on the Delete key.
This deleted the additional shape and the chart returned to its original format.
Additional Elements
You can use the SmartArt Design and Format option in the main menu to add additional customizations.
In some cases, the usual three circles partially overlapping Venn diagram might be an ideal choice to represent the data. Navigate to SmartArt Design and change the layout of the chart to any preferred Venn diagram.
You can also change the look of the Venn diagram from the SmartArt Styles option. You can also choose your preferred color of the chart from the Change Colors dropdown.
Suggested Reads:
How to Make an Excel Bullet Chart – 2 Easy Examples
Pivot Charts in Excel Tutorial
How to Insert Bullet Points in Excel? 5 Easy Methods
By Using Shapes
This is a less common way to create Venn diagrams. However, this method lets you customize the Venn diagram in your favored way.
To create a Venn diagram using Shapes, navigate to Insert. Under Illustrations, from the Shapes dropdown, select Oval.
This lets you draw any shape in any dimension depending on your preference.
To create a basic three-circle Venn diagram, click, drag the mouse pointer, and draw three circles.
Initially, the circles would be opaque and show no resemblance to a Venn diagram. To change them, we need to reduce their opacity.
Select all the three circles by holding Ctrl. Right-click on the circles and click on Format Object.
This opens up a Format Shape pane on the right side of the screen. In Shape Options, under Fill, increase or decrease the transparency of the Solid fill.
This gives us the required Venn Diagram.
Move/Resize the Shape
You can move or resize the shape by clicking and dragging on the anchor points. If the mouse pointer turns to a four-way pointer, you can move the shape. If the mouse pointer is a two-way pointer, you can resize the shapes.
Add Text
You can add text to the shapes by selecting the text box from the shapes. We have already seen how to add text using Text Box from the SmartArt method.
Customize
You can change the style, color, and layout of the shapes and text using the Shape Format option.
You can also group the elements, move, align, and resize them using the Arrange and Resize options in the Shape Format menu.
Also Read:
How to Convert Text to Numbers in Excel? 5 Easy Methods
How to Move Rows in Excel? 5 Easy Methods
How to Use the ROUND Function in Excel?
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a Venn diagram template?
A Venn diagram template is an outline of the Venn diagram that you can use to build your own diagram. You can use the template to create Venn diagrams for other data.
How to create a Venn diagram in Excel?
You can create a Venn diagram in two ways in Excel. You can either use the SmartArt design, choose a template and edit them, or you can use Shapes to create a manual Venn diagram and customize them from scratch.
How to create non-proportional Venn diagrams in Excel?
When using the SmartArt, you can select the template and then resize the Venn circles. When creating a Venn diagram using shapes, you can straight away draw the shapes to suit your purpose.
Closing Thoughts
Venn diagrams provide a very feasible way to depict information with overlapping or similar data. Creating the Venn diagram and customizing them based on your requirement and preferences helps you present the data in a neat and organized way.
In this article, we saw what a Venn diagram is and how to create a Venn diagram in Excel in 2 easy ways. You can either use the template from SmartArt or use the Shapes to draw and create your own Venn diagram.
If you need more high-quality Excel guides, please check out our free Excel resources center. Simon Sez IT has been teaching Excel for over ten years. For a low, monthly fee you can get access to 130+ IT training courses. Click here for advanced Excel courses with in-depth training modules.
Simon Calder
Chris “Simon” Calder was working as a Project Manager in IT for one of Los Angeles’ most prestigious cultural institutions, LACMA.He taught himself to use Microsoft Project from a giant textbook and hated every moment of it. Online learning was in its infancy then, but he spotted an opportunity and made an online MS Project course - the rest, as they say, is history!
