Following are the best chart types for summarizing time-based data in Excel: Line chart. Clustered column chart. , and combination chart . Stacked column chart. Stacked area chart.
Line chart Use line charts when you want to show/focus on data trends (uptrend, downtrend, short term trend, sideways trend, long term) especially long term trends (i. e. changes over several months or years) between the values of the data series:.
How do you chart time data in Excel?
By far, the easiest way to chart time data is to use a scatter chart. Scatter charts automatically take date or time data and turn it into a time-scale axis. When you select a date or time range, and the data associated with it, Excel will take its best guess at organizing the information in the chart with the time-scale on the x-axis.
Which excel chart to use?
Pie graphs are some of the best Excel chart types to use when you’re starting out with categorized data. With that being said, however, pie charts are best used for one single data set that’s broken down into categories. If you want to compare multiple data sets, it’s best to stick with bar or column charts.
What are the best types of charts in Excel?
In this article, I will show you the best types of charts in Excel for data analysis, presentation and reporting within 15 minutes. You will learn about the various Excel charts types from column charts, bar charts, line charts, pie charts to stacked area charts.
The column charts are best used for comparing two or more data points at once. These data points are shown as verticle columns on the x-axis and the height of the column represents the magnitude of the datapoint. There 3 types of Column Chart in Excel.
You could be thinking “When to use combination charts in Excel?”
#3 Use a combination chart when you want to display different types of data in different ways that can be represented in the same chart. For example, line, bar and column charts can be used on the same chart. When to use a stacked column chart?
How to read an Excel chart?
In order to read an Excel chart, it is important that you understand the various components of the chart. Consider the following data table in Excel: This data table has got five variables: ‘Month’, ‘Sales’, ‘Cost’, ‘Profit’, and ‘ROI’:.