I’m here to discuss Google Sheets charts. Done correctly, they provide a visually appealing and well-laid-out way to visualize data. Luckily making charts in Google Sheets is easy. I created this article to show exactly how to create beautiful charts with step-by-step instructions and visual examples for each.
Google Sheets Charts include numerous styles, from simple bar and pie charts to more complex radar, treemap, and geo (using Google Maps) charts. That’s so many ways to convey data! Are you as excited about this as I am?
My Google Sheets Charts tutorial covers the simplest and most complex charts on Google Sheets. Read on for the how-to guide.
Table of Contents
This guide only briefly touches on a number of different chart types. However, each chart type will have a link to our full detailed guides. Alternatively, you may want to just learn everything at once from a comprehensive Google Sheets course.
Before you start creating a chart, you need to prepare your data. You can do this in many ways, like creating a pivot table. Creating a chart is super simple and can be done in a few easy ways. Don’t skip this step. You’ll need to understand the way you organize your data if you want to create a visualization.
So let’s start there. Here’s how to prepare your data. After that, I’ll demonstrate how to make a chart on Google Sheets:
Step 1: Select your data range.
Step 2: Go to Insert > Chart. A chart editor will pop up on the right. Note that this is one of the coolest parts of Google Sheets. The chart editor helps you quickly choose your visualizations, modify which data you want to use, and choose how to label everything.
Step 3: Start by choosing the chart type you want in the chart editor. My photo here shows a column chart selected. You’ll notice there are several types of column charts, so you can choose which best applies to the story you want your data to tell.
Step 4: Under Series, you can also choose which columns you want to be presented in your chart by adding or clicking Remove. Remember how I mentioned you’d be able to modify which parts of your data to use? This is where you do that.
Once you are done, you can edit and customize your chart as you wish or close the chart editor. You can also use the Chart button in the toolbar. That’s right next to the comment button, and it looks like a little chart.
With the chart button, Google Sheets automatically selects the chart it feels your data fits.
This is an automated process, and it’s not going to always match your expectations. Sometimes it will. Sometimes it might choose an unexpected chart and use the data to fill in the title, legend, and axes.
You will also notice that the Chart editor sidebar loads at this time. That’s helpful, because you’ll likely want to modify the automatic choices.
Please note that if you close the Chart editor and then want to reopen it later, you can do so by double-clicking anywhere on the chart.
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If you would like to experiment with the charts in Google Sheets, you can make a copy of my chart example spreadsheet. You can also find some example chart sheets in the spreadsheet.
If you find this example sheet useful, you may also want to consider checking out our paid templates.
Now that you have created a Google Sheets chart let’s look at the various charts available in Google Sheets. We will begin with the most commonly used chart and work on the more complex types of charts.
Here’s a look at the types of charts in Google Sheets.
Pie Charts are perhaps the most commonly used spreadsheet charts. Most people would be very familiar with a pie chart, and they do a great job of visualizing simple data. They are used commonly with budgeting as it depicts a single item (i.e., spending). Pie charts use a circle, disk, or donut divided into sections based on the data.
I have a deep dive into Google Sheets pie charts. Of course, there’s another option too. You might also want to use pie charts in Google Forms. I covered that too! Here’s the very short version on making the chart in Google Sheets:
Step 1: Select your data.
Step 2: Go to Insert > Chart.
Step 3: In the chart editor, go to the Chart type drop down menu.
Step 4: Choose Pie chart.
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Line charts or line graphs and Area charts are very similar. Both use an x-axis to show a period (i.e., month), and the y-axis shows the metric visualized. The only difference between them is a bit more color. A line chart is a rectangular chart that has dots going across it and lines connecting the dots.
Whereas, for an Area chat, the space below the line in the chart area is shaded in. This could perhaps make the visual much quicker to identify. Both charts can be used to visualize the changes of numerous metrics over time.
Here’s how to make a line graph in Google Sheets:
Step 1: Select your data.
Step 2: Go to Insert > Chart.
Step 3: In the chart editor, go to the Chart type drop-down menu.
Step 4: Choose line chart.
These charts resemble Line and Area charts in the overall layout, but you will have columns or bars instead of dots connected by lines. They will not be connected, thus allowing you to compare multiple metrics side by side for each period (i.e., week).
In Google Sheets, a bar chart is just like a column chart except that it is horizontal. The x and y axis are usually inverted in those cases.
Usually, when you insert a chart in Google Sheets it automatically comes as a column chart but just in case, here’s a step-by-step guide on how to create a column chart:
Step 1: Select your data.
Step 2: Go to Insert > Chart.
Step 3: In the chart editor, go to the Chart type drop down menu.
Step 4: Choose Column chart.
Stacked bar charts are similar to their standard versions. However, the metrics are stacked in different colors to show the changes in the composition of various items over time.
Scatter charts have a diagonal line (x-y plane) going from bottom left to top right moving up the metrics results. Then the data is visualized as dots around that line. These dots create a scatter plot that highlights the target areas. Often this is used to get a simple overview of property cost and square footage. It can be used effectively to show connections between two metrics.
You might recognize a bubble chart as the one with a bunch of circles. This looks pretty similar to a scatter plot but uses bubbles in place of the dots, the size of each of these bubbles shows the density of a data point by including a third numerical value.
I like bubble charts when I want to show the data density in addition to the information I’d otherwise show with a scatter plot.
A Waterfall chart is a form of data presentation that shows how a value is affected positive and negative changes. The chart consists of bars that show the beginning and ending values of a quantity, connected to each other using floating bars (or bridges).
The floating bars show how the starting value rises and falls until it reaches the ending value. This kind of chart is especially common with stocks data. The bars in a waterfall chart are color-coded to show when a change is positive or negative.
I use waterfall charts to tell a story with data. One side of the visualization shows where we started, and the other side shows where we ended. Each step in the waterfall shows another chapter in the story.
A combo chart is a combination of two or more different chart styles, such as the column Chart and a Line chart. It is an insightful way to view and compare multiple sets of data simultaneously.
To create a combo chart, you need two datasets with a common string field, like time.
A candlestick chart is a kind of chart used in financial analysis to chow price high, low and to determine the movement base on this pattern. One candle stick usually represents 4 important pieces of data.
In Google Sheets, a candlestick chart requires at least 5 columns of data.
I use these types of chart for stock analysis. This is also something I cover in my guide on how to use the GOOGLEFINANCE function. Candlestick charts are very common in this type of presentation, and they’re something you may want to consider if you work with stock prices.
This chart is used to present data that has multiple variables. It’s used to compare multiple aspects of more than one. It’s sometimes called a spider chart because it resembles a web.
These charts use a map, and they show concentration by area. They are great for visualizing sales data when attempting to understand the target market areas of a company’s customer base. Google Maps offers a map for this chart that is built into Google Sheets Charts.
I love using the chart editor in Google Sheets. If you haven’t used it, you’ll want to familiarize yourself before you edit your chart.
In short, this is where you go to change the data range, chart type, visual effect, and more. The chart editor consists of 2 sides: the Setup Editor and the Customize Editor. Let’s talk about both.
Here’s a look at the setup editor for charts in Google Sheets. In the photo, you’ll notice it’s on the top left side. It allows you to choose your type, whether you want stacking data, and the range. Below, I included a more detailed look at everything in the setup editor.
Data Range
X-axis
Aggregate Check Box
Series
Checkboxes
Here’s a visual of the customize editor for charts in Google Sheets. It’s located on the top right side, just next to the setup editor. Below, I’ll break down all the parts of this menu.
Chart style
Chart & axis titles
Series
Legend
Vertical Axis
Gridlines and ticks
So what’s the difference between a chart and a graph? A chart is usually an umbrella term used to define different ways to visually represent data. A graph on the other and, is used to represent data in by plotting the values in a vertical axis (y axis) and horizontal axis (x axis).
However, people often use these terms interchangeably. To help differentiate them, there are charts that you can’t call graphs, such as pie charts, geo charts, area charts, bubble charts, waterfall charts, heat maps, radar charts, and spline charts. These typically do not have an x and y axis.
Graphs on the other hand, are like line graphs, bar graphs, histograms, and candlestick charts.
One thing to note is that Google Sheets treats all graphs as charts; therefore graphing on Google Sheets is done the same way for all charts.
It’s easy to move your chart around your sheet if you want to position it. All you need to do is click it and hold it with the cursor, then drag it to where you need it to be.
If you want to remove your chart there are two ways you can do this. You can cut it using the keyboard shortcut CTRL + X
For the second method:
Step 1: Click on the three dots at the top right corner of the chart to open chart options.
Step 2: Choose Delete chart.
This will remove your cart from your sheet completely. If you happen to delete your chart by accident you can always undo using the keyboard shortcut CTRL + Z.
To make a 3d chart in Google Sheets:
Step 1: Select your data.
Step 2: Go to Insert > Chart
Step 3: Go to chart style and choose the chart you want .
Step 4: Go to Customize > Chart style
Step 5: Check the box for 3D
Once you are done making a chart in Google Sheets, there are several different ways you can share your chart. One way is by copy-pasting it.
You can copy and paste the chart to a different sheet or even to Google docs.
Step 1: Click on the three dots at the top right corner of the chart to open chart options.
Step 2: Choose Copy chart.
Step 3: Go to where you want to paste your chart and right click and choose paste. You can also use the keyboard shortcut CTRL + V
Step 4: A prompt will pop up to either link to spreadsheet or paste unlinked. If you want your chart to update with any changes to the original data then click Link to spreadsheet.
Step 5: Click Paste.
Your spreadsheet will be pasted into the new location you have chosen. If you chose paste unlinked then it will be pasted simply as an image.
After creating a chart, you may need to download it to distribute it to your team via email. Luckily Google Sheets has this built-in and allows you to download your file to a PNG, PDF, or SVG. To do this, you will need to hover your cursor over the chart. When you do this, three dots should appear in the top right corner of the chart. Click the three dots, and you will see a dropdown. Go to Download and select the file type you would like to download.
Google Sheets Charts have some more advanced options that we will not cover in full here, but this will provide you with other options for your chart.
Google Sheets Charts are a top-shelf data visualization tool that will create visuals to present your data. These visualizations are the key to making informed decisions and delivering effective points. We’ve shown how to make a chart in Google Sheets ad some examples of different charts.
Hopefully, this tutorial will allow you to use this incredible tool effectively, and you will become more effective at making charts in Google Sheets.
Read more Google Sheets chart tutorials here:
