How to Create Bar Charts in Excel

Step 1. Highlight a column of numbers.

Step 2. Click on the insert tab, then the bar chart icon. Then select the kind of bar chart you would like.

*Note: Avoid the 3-D charts!!!!

Step 3. Yay, you did it!

Labeling your bars.

So in addition to just a column of numbers it’s a good idea to have row labels and column headers. When you go to create your chart, highlight these as well. This way Excel will actually label your bars and your chart.

The Formatting Menus

There are a few ways to reach formatting menus in Excel. I find the easiest is usually just selecting elements within the chart itself, then right clicking and selecting the format button.

Making the Bars “Bigger”

One of the things I always end up doing is reducing the gap between bars. The default makes the bars tiny with a lot of useless empty space in between. Reducing the Gap Width will make your bars bigger.

Creating a Clean Chart

I like a clean bar chart, so often I’ll get rid of the gridlines (which I’ll replace with bar labels). To do this you really just click on the lines and delete them. Since I’ll use bar labels I can also get rid of the y axis labels by selecting them and hitting the delete button.

Increasing the Label Sizes

Usually after stripping down the chart a bit I’ll then bump up the label size. Also not a big fan of the default font so I’ll change that up as well.

Changing Bar Colors

Good data design practice means using color sparingly but deliberately. Long gone are the rainbow color palettes of the past, which didn’t offer any real value. Instead we use single color unless we would like to high something. Once thing I tend to do is bump the shade down a bit. You can find the color options in the Format Data Series menu after selecting the bars.

Highlight Color

If there is a specific bar you would like to highlight, you can decide to change only that bar’s color. Just click on the individual bar until it’s the only one selected, then change the color. I tend to go with darker shade whether it is the same color or a different color, this helps if the chart is ever printed in black/white.

Add and Format Data Labels

I like using data labels instead of an axis/grid lines for most bar charts. You can add labels with a right click on the bars (selecting add data labels). Then I go ahead and format the data labels so that they are bigger and match the font I’m using.

Saving the Image

Once you have made all the changes you want to the chart you can save it as a picture. Just right click on the chart area and click “Save as Picture.”

Alternatively, you can just copy and paste the chart from Excel into Word or PowerPoint. If you’re staying within the Office suite, this is the ideal way to move the image as it retains your full ability to reformat the graphic.

Beyond the Basics

This is just the basics. There are all sorts of things you can do with Bar Charts.

Generally though I suggest keeping the chart itself simple and minimalist. You can always add flare through annotations/additional graphics. Doing things like making your charts 3D doesn’t help the presentation, it just makes the chart harder to interpret and can also skew the data.