Pivot Tables take tables of data and allow the user to summarise and consolidate the data at the same time. This is a great and very fast method of analysis but is restricted to handling mathematical functions on the value field resulting in numerical summaries.
It is possible to combine Custom Number Formats with the Pivot Table to produce Text based answers.
Download some sample data and follow along here: Sample File.
On the Simple Example worksheet
You will see that we have a sample table consisting of 5 fields, Names, Email, Opened and Date
Next add a numerical field “Open”, to convert the Opened field to a value
In F2: =(D2=”Yes”)*1 and copy F2 down
We can now add a Pivot table to the expanded table:
Select the area A1:F9
Insert, Pivot Table, Pivot Table
Select a Table or Range: ‘Basic Example’!$A$1:$F$9
Existing Worksheet: Location: I2
Once the pivot table is added, the PivotTable Field List will be displayed
Drag the Date field to the Column Labels
Drag the Email field to the Row Labels
Drag the Open field to the Sum Values
The Pivot Table will low look like this:
We can hide the Grant Total Row and Column by right clicking on the Grand Total Heading and select Remove Grand Total.
We will now add a Custom Number format to the Sum of Open area
Select the Sum of Open area
Right Click and select Format Cells
On the Number Tab, Select the Custom Category and enter a Format code: [>=1]”Yes”;[=0]”No”;
Anywhere that a value >0 occurs the word “Yes” will appear and where ever it is 0 a “No” will be shown.
You can do any of the normal Pivot Table, Filtering, Grouping etc activities and the results will change accordingly.
You can now format the Pivot Table as desired.
More Complex Results
We can use the Custom Number Formats to define up to 3 Text Values to either individual or Ranges of results.
Goto the Complex Example worksheet.
This Pivot table has used a Custom Number Format of: [<=9]”Low”;[<=19]”Medium”;”High”
This Custom Number Format assigns a Value of Low to a Sum of Rank <= 9, a Value of Medium to a Sum of Rank <= 19 and High to the remainder of the values
The Pivot Table also has a Conditional Format applied to the Sum of Rank area which applies a Color to the Font of the cells.
Limitations
The limitations of this technique are in that a Custom Number Format can only display 3 Conditional formats using the [ ] parameters.
There are a number of techniques that can expand on this using VBA and these are discussed below:
Displaying Text Values in Pivot Tables with VBA
Robert Mundigl has written a great article on using Text within Pivot Tables using VBA
Emulate Excel Pivot Tables with Texts in the Value Area using VBA
References:
You can read more about Custom Number Formats here:
Here at Chandoo.org:
http://chandoo.org/wp/2008/02/25/custom-cell-formatting-in-excel-few-tips-tricks/
http://chandoo.org/wp/2011/11/02/a-technique-to-quickly-develop-custom-number-formats/
http://chandoo.org/wp/2011/08/19/selective-chart-axis-formating/
http://chandoo.org/wp/2011/08/22/custom-chart-axis-formating-part-2/
http://chandoo.org/wp/tag/custom-cell-formatting/
Elsewhere
http://www.ozgrid.com/Excel/CustomFormats.htm
http://peltiertech.com/Excel/NumberFormats.html
You can read more about Conditional Formatting here:
http://chandoo.org/wp/2009/03/13/excel-conditional-formatting-basics/
http://chandoo.org/wp/2008/03/13/want-to-be-an-excel-conditional-formatting-rock-star-read-this/
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!!!!