Excel Basics – What are Combination Charts and How to Make One?

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A combination chart is when you combine two different charts to make one. A popular example of combination charts is a line & bar graph combination. See below illustration:

Today we will learn how to create a simple combination chart.

1. For our combination chart, we will use the following data of Sales & Profits
   
2. First we will make a simple bar chart for the sales data. Just select the Sales data table, go to insert > chart and specify type as “column chart” (this is the default selection btw). Once you are done, the chart looks like this:
   
3. Now, select the profits data, press ctrl+c to copy it to clip board, and select the sales chart you have created above, and press ctrl+v to paste this data in to the sales chart. Essentially we are adding one more series of data to the sales chart.
4. Now the chart should look like below. Right click on the new series (profits) and select “chart type”.
   
5. From the chart type dialog change the type of chart from “column” to “line” (or whatever other type you fancy)
6. That is all, you have successfully created a combination chart in excel.

Download the Excel Combination Chart Tutorial workbook and learn by experimenting.

As you can probably guess by now, there are some restrictions on what you can mix though. Best way to learn and understand combination charts is by experimenting. Just select one of the data series and change the chart type.

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