Often I wish Microsoft had spent the effort and time on a data genie (and a set of powerful formulas) that can automate common data cleanup tasks like extracting duplicates, makings lists unique, find missing items, remove spaces etc. Alas, instead they have provided features like clippy which are intrusive to say the least.
So as part of our second installment of spreadcheats we will learn how to tackle few of the most common data processing tasks:
Getting Unique Items from a List of Cells
There are 3 simple ways to do this:
- Using Advanced Data Filter
- Using countif() and auto filter
- Using formulas as described here
Assuming you have data as shown in the picture aside (and wishing you will have customers like those):
- First add a column to the left of the list. Here we will use formulas to fill numbers based on the uniqueness of the cell next to it.
- Essentially our formula should generate numbers in increasing order as long as the corresponding item is unique and not increase the number otherwise.
- So the formula for order column can be like this:
=IF(COUNTIF(list-upto-that-point, current element)=1,previous-order+1, previous-order)
See the example below:
remember, the first cell order is 1. - See how we are using both absolute and relative references to fetch the counts.
- Now add another column to the right of the list, here we will fetch unique items.
- We will use vlookup() to fetch each of the 12 unique items. The formula goes like this:
=VLOOKUP(running number,$B$4:$C$22,2,FALSE)
You can wrap the vlookup() with if() formula to avoid seeing #value errors.
That is all. Using this method you can extract unique items froma list.
Eliminating Doubles from a List
There are 2 ways in which you can find and remove duplicates(doubles) in excel lists with ease:
- Using countif() and then auto-filter
- Using formulas
The process for finding duplicates using formulas is same as that of finding unique items.
Instead of writing COUNTIF(list-upto-that-point, current element)=1, we now write COUNTIF(list-upto-that-point, current element)=2. Also the first element’s count should be changed to zero.
Once done the list should look like what you see on the side.
Finding Missing Items by comparing one list with another:
Even though this might seem like a different challenge, it is infact same as the above techniques. You need to use countif() to compare first list’s elements with second list. How? that is your home work.
Download and see these formulas in action:
Still having some doubts? Download the excel tutorial – unique & duplicate items and learn by poking around.
15 Responses to “Make a Bubble Chart in Excel [15 second tutorial]”
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!
Whyyyyyyyy?
The idea is to tell how to make a bubble chart. I got an e-mail from a reader recently asking how the scatter bubble is made. So I thought a 15 second tutorial would be a good idea to show this.
Did that email go "Dear Chandoo, I know that you scorn bubble charts, but if I don't do one in Excel for my boss then he'll fire my sorry ass, and my children will have to be sold for medical experiments in order for me to be able to afford the upgrade path to Excel 2010"?
If so, fair enough...it's all in the greater good 😉
Chandoo,
I am using excel 2003 and it is not working. The x axis is not the one that I enter in x axis column. Please help! Thanks.
Sorry, after few attempts, I managed to get the right result. I shouldn't select the title (header) of the table and select only the data to produce the right bubble chart.
What's wrong with bubble charts? Is there a better method for displaying scatter plots with lots of overlapping data points? Don't tell me you'd rather jitter!
@Sanwijay: Cool.
@Precious Roy: There is nothing wrong with bubble charts. Infact, it is the only way to show 3 dimensional data (x,y and sizes) without confusing your audience. Jeff is worried that people might misuse the chart. As with any chart, bubbles also have a place and time for using them.
I recommend using bubble charts to show relative performance various products in several regions and similar situations.
Also, human eye is notorious in wrongly estimating the bubble sizes (as we have to measure areas). See http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/07/28/charting-lessons-from-optical-illusions/
We can partially improve bubble charts by adding data labels, but if you have too many bubbles, the labels will clutter the chart and make it look busy.
I can't seem to find a way to plot more than ten bubbles on a chart and need to know how to add more
@KW.. why would such a thing happen. I am sure you can add more bubbles that that. Can you tell us exactly what you are doing...
Example table:
A B C (size)
Me: 25 30 15%
Him: 30 22 11%
Her: 12 30 20%
I am trying to make a bubble chart where the Y axis is A, the X axis is B, and the size of the bubble is C. There should be only 3 bubbles. I keep ending up with six (with the labels being only "Me" and "Her"). My goal is to have three bubbles, one representing each person. Clearly I am doing something wrong. Can you help explain...?
Hi,
I wanted to add data labels to the bubbles. Each bubble represents a different company name. Excel allows me to add the size, legend, x axis values and y axis values. How do I add instead- Company A, B, C, D for the bubbles?
youon you have to choice every data for every company..
ex:create bubble for A company,after that click right> add data label> adjust data labels :format data labels and choose : series name.
i hop u will succeed .
[...] we create a bubble chart with 2 bubbles. 1 for the actual mustache & 1 for target [...]
If we want bubble size to be controlled by one column, but the bubble labels to be controlled by another column, how can this be achieved?
many thanks!!!!