How to create a Bar chart in Excel, by Innoved Tutorials on YouTube. 4 min 31 s.
- Video length
- 4 min 31 s
- Time to do it
- 10 minutes
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Steps
- 8
What you need
Steps
Type your data into two columns: category names on the left and their numbers on the right. Add a header row so Excel labels the chart correctly.
Select the whole range, including the headers, by dragging over the cells or pressing Ctrl+A inside the table.
Go to the Insert tab, find the Charts group and click the bar chart icon. Pick the first 2-D clustered bar option.
Click the chart to select it, then drag its corner handles to resize it and drag the chart itself to move it beside your data.
To sort the bars from largest to smallest, right-click the chart and choose Sort, then Sort Largest to Smallest.
To flip the order so the biggest bar sits at the top, right-click the category axis and pick Format Axis. Tick Categories in reverse order.
Click the chart, press the plus button at its top right and tick Data Labels to show the values at the end of each bar.
Use the Chart Design and Format tabs to change the chart style, title and colours, then save the workbook with Ctrl+S.
Tips and common mistakes
Keep the category column to the left of the number column, or Excel may treat the numbers as categories.
If your numbers look wrong, check that the cells are formatted as numbers and not text.
Reverse the category order only after sorting, so the largest bar ends up at the top where it is easy to read.
Questions
Why does my bar chart show the wrong labels?
Excel usually takes the left column as categories and the right as values. If it swaps them, click Switch Row/Column on the Chart Design tab.
What is the difference between a bar chart and a column chart?
A bar chart draws horizontal bars and a column chart draws vertical ones. Both use the same data, so pick whichever fits your slide or page better.
Can I change the chart later?
Yes. The chart stays linked to your cells, so editing a number in the table updates the bars straight away.
This guide was drafted from the video's details and general task knowledge. It has not been checked against the full video. Check the video and relevant product instructions before following a procedure. Report a correction.
