Last week in the Chandoo.org Forums, I was asked could I reproduce the chart below in Excel
Which I did.
This post will describe how to tackle this chart step by step.
You can follow along using some sample data: Download Sample File
Data
To produce this chart we are going to use an Excel Stacked Bar chart with two series of data
The first Series will be for the Colored Bars
The second series is for the Arrow and the gap to the left of the arrow
The data required is shown in the above table
The Arrow Value is an input and is the value the Arrow will point to
The data is the values for the colored bars
The Arrow is two calculations that setup the Arrow, the 58 is the offset from zero to the left side of the arrow
The 4 is the width of the arrow. That is the arrow will point to 60 = 58 + 4 /2
The Cumulative Data is required for the Legend
Chart
In Excel 2016
Select the range C3:G4 and goto Insert Chart
Select Bar, Stacked Bar
In Excel 2010
Select the range C3:G4 and goto Insert Chart
Select Bar, Stacked Bar
Now with the Chart selected goto the Chart Tools, Design Tab
Click on the Switch Row/Column Tab
Excel All Versions
You should now have a chart like:
Bar 1 is the data and Bar 2 will become the arrow
We don’t need the Charts Title, Legend, Grid Lines or Axis, so select each and press Delete
Next we will add an arrow
The Arrow will be placed as a Fill in the Upper Orange Bar
Select a Blank Cell eg: I3
Then goto the Insert, Shapes Menu and select an Isosceles Triangle
Fill the Arrow with what ever color you want and drag the Handle down so that the arrow points down
To insert the arrow, select the Arrow and press Copy (Ctrl+C)
Now select the Chart and click on the Upper Orange Bar, click on it again until it is the only Bar with Handles Showing, the press Paste (Ctrl+V)
Now select the Upper Blue Bar and set its fill and outline to None
Right Click on any Bar and select Format Data Series
Set the Series Overlap to 100% and set the Gap Width to 0%
Now click on the chart, just above the Blue Bar
When the Resize Handles appear, drag them to resize the chart so that the gap between the Top and Bottom Bars is none
We can now add the labels
Select the Orange Bar and then Select it again until it is the only Bar with Handles
Right Click on it and Add Data Label
Now click on the new Data Label and click on it again until the Handles change as shown below
Now in the Formula Bar enter =Chandoo.org!$C$5 and apply
Right click on the Data Label and select Format Data Labels
Set the Label Position to Inside Base
Now repeat for each of the other Bars
and Finally add a Label to the arrow linking it to cell C2. You have to manually drag the Label to above the arrow.
Conclusion
Now that you know how to make a Bar Chart with Indicator Arrow, it should take you less than a minute to copy the bar chart, convert it to a Column chart and reformat it to a Column Chart with arrow as shown below
I hope you enjoyed the above tutorial
23 Responses to “Learn Top 10 Excel Features”
What it looks like if excel without formula?? 🙂
It would be not excel it would just be fancy tables in which you could just use power point. (Chandoo) would Access be an alternative?
Awesome piece of work!!!
Great article.
Chandoo - my biggest interest in the article was the awesome word-graphic at the top - where did you go to get it done into a shape?
@Rich.. thank you. I used http://www.tagxedo.com/ to generate this word cloud. I took all the comments in the original post, pasted them in tagxedo website and set up the shape etc.
Awesome Chandoo.. You need always needs coffee to start up with. BTW , how did u created the Heart Shaped picture filled with High Repetitive text in it .. Please put it on your Next blog ...
Chandoo, good article. I’ve added a link to it from Connexion – our collection of the most useful and interesting spreadsheet-related articles from the web. See http://www.i-nth.com/resources/connexion
Hi,
Just one small question. Where the hell have been I in the past for not discovering this website sooner?
I've lost a job interview recently where even though I had the subject knowledge, I was not upto their mark in Excel.
Thank you for all the free tips, guidance and for creating this forum environment.
[PS: I've just been through the site for the 1st time, and have signed up for the newsletter. You can expect pretty stupid questions from me soon]
Hy Chandoo, you always inspire me with to explore something new in excel. This data structure table is only for excel 2007 or compatible to 2010. I recently installed latest excel version 2013 in my System and experience problems regarding operating according to previous one. I'm waiting your article relates to that excel version.
Thanks
Awesome article Mr. Chandoo and that is a awesome heart shaped pic you created. Great tips as well.
[...] Learn Top 10 Excel Features | Chandoo.org – Learn Microsoft Excel Online. [...]
Chandoo is awesome..
Thanks, i got better, And i always get 90.50 in my grade card but now i get 96.50 i improved because of the tutorials you gave, Thank You Very Much Chandoo Guy.
Hi chandoo, i am intersted in seeing the video or step by step done procedure of analysing the comments and presenting in the data percentage steps. I think this one would be first step in finding out how generally happens data calculation. Thank you.
As well i would like to know how to get that black shape art of your face which i see in chandoo. I am interested in making it for me.
Nice to see the features considered by Excel users to be most useful. It might be a good idea to also analyze StackOverflow Excel questions to see what keywords appear most often.
Here are my top 10 Excel Features (for advanced users):
http://www.analystcave.com/excel-10-top-excel-features/
Thanks a ton for this it totally helped with my homework ????
Very good effort
Thank you for this. Lots of learning in the links you've provided for this septuagenarian.
Pls send me new post
Dude, your humor ? ?
Loved your work.
Hello Sir,
I am Sanjeev Khakre and i from Indore City, India , I am your big follower and i have watch your videos and learnt a lots of excel trick or function and many more . thanks so much for all of your excellent support.
Your excel knowledge is real awesome.
Thanks
Sanjeev
Your work is excellent but pls willing to know more details about the features of microsoft excel
Chandoo Would Access be a better alternative than VB?