Grid lines provide great help in understanding values in a chart. Here is a handy trick you can use in the next bar chart to spice it up.
Here is how you can get this type of chart (we will call it a brick chart)
- First we will make a regular bar chart
- Now, let us assume we want each brick to be of 5 units width. So we take another column in the worksheet and enter the value 1 twenty times. This will be a dummy series that we will add to the chart. Just copy these 20 cells and paste them in to the chart. (just press ctrl+c after selecting the dummy value cells, and then select the chart you made in step 1 and press ctrl+v)
- Now we will change the dummy series’ chart type from bar chart to column chart. Just select the newly inserted series in the chart and right click and select chart type. In the chart type dialog, change the type.
- Now the new chart will look like this. We will adjust the secondary axis parameters so that the columns will span the entire height of the chart. Just use the format axis dialog for this.
- Once the columns are of sufficient height, we will adjust their fill color to transparent (none) and line color to white. This will produce the following effect.
- Finally, remove the unnecessary chart junk like axes and you have a neat looking brick chart.
Download the excel brick chart template and play with it.
PS: making this type of charts is slightly difficult compared to normal charts. What we have done here is, we mixed two types of charts. These are called combination charts. We will explore more about this type of charts later.
8 Responses to “Create a Combination Chart, Add Secondary Axis in Excel [15 Second Tutorial]”
[...] Select the “daily completed” column and add it to the burn down chart. Once added, change the chart type for this series to bar chart (read how you can combine 2 different chart types in one) [...]
[...] set the height series to be plotted on secondary axis. Learn more about combining 2 chart types and adding secondary axis in [...]
[...] Excel Combination Charts – What are they? [...]
[...] To show the years, I have used another dummy series and plotted it on secondary axis (related: how to add secondary axis?) [...]
Thanks for this one!
[...] Choisissez la colonne « Daily Completed » et ajoutez-la au graphique. Une fois ajoutée, changez le type de graphique pour cette série à histogramme (lisez comment combiner 2 types de graphiques en un : combine 2 different chart types in one) [...]
How do i create a chart that has negative numbers on axis x and y and plot them correctly? I cannot seem to understand how to do this, please help.
Thanks.
Nat
You can also plot 2 or more Y axes in Excel using EZplot or Multy_Y from Office Expander.com
There is a demo version to try.
Cheers.