Make a Quick Thermometer Chart to Compare Targets and Actuals

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Comparing values is one of the reasons why we make charts. So today I am going to teach you a handy little trick to make a thermometer like chart to compare targets with actuals. This type of chart is very useful when you have a bunch of sales targets and you want to measure how the performance has been. [Read excel theremometer charts for another option.]
Target Vs Actual Charts Excel 4 - Thermometer charts
To make a thermometer chart, just follow these 5 simple steps.

1. Select the data and make a column chart

Sales Targets In Charts Sample Data - Thermometer charts

Select the data and insert a column chart.
Target Vs Actual Charts Excel 1 - Thermometer charts

2. Select a chart data series and adjust “overlap” to “100%  overlapped”

Overlap Chart Series Excel - Thermometer charts
This will ensure that one series of the chart is 100% overlapped with another.
Target Vs Actual Charts Excel 2 - Thermometer charts

3. Format the target series so that only outline is shown

Select the series and set fill color to none, set the border color same as the fill color of “actual” series.
Target Vs Actual Charts Excel 3 - Thermometer charts

4. Remove grid lines and add data labels

Now our chart looks more like a thermometer.
Target Vs Actual Charts Excel 4 - Thermometer charts

5. Now go figure out why Acid Pops are struggling to sell

Yep, that is the fifth step. Go figure out why the targets are not met.

Bonus tip: If sometimes actual values are more than targets, then you should try different colors for target series’ border and actual series fill, like this:

comparing values - thermometer alternative

Download chart template and compare 2 sets of values easily

Click here to download the excel file and use thermometer chart template.

How do you compare values?

Share your techniques and charting ideas using comments. Tell us how you compare values.

Additional tutorials & material:

Compare actual values with targets using excel and other excel charting tutorials. Also check out our section on excel dashboards.

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One Response to “How to compare two Excel sheets using VLOOKUP? [FREE Template]”

  1. Danny says:

    Maybe I missed it, but this method doesn't include data from James that isn't contained in Sara's data.

    I added a new sheet, and named the ranges for Sara and James.

    Maybe something like:
    B2: =SORT(UNIQUE(VSTACK(SaraCust, JamesCust)))
    C2: =XLOOKUP(B2#,SaraCust,SaraPaid,"Missing")
    D2: =XLOOKUP(B2#,JamesCust, JamesPaid,"Missing")
    E2: =IF(ISERROR(C2#+D2#),"Missing",IF(C2#=D2#,"Yes","No"))

    Then we can still do similar conditional formatting. But this will pull in data missing from Sara's sheet as well.

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