In this article, you will learn how to create a line chart in Google Sheets. A line chart is helpful when you want to show continuous data over time, such as monthly revenue growth rate.
How to create a line chart in Google Sheets
Select a data set you want to visualize.
Go to the “Insert” tab and click ”Chart”,ornavigate to the “Insert chart” iconin the toolbar.
Then, you have a default chart on a sheet, and a chart editor shows up on the right.
In the “Setup” tab of the editor, select “Line chart” in the “Chart” type section.
Confirm the data range selected and adjust it if needed.
Also, ensure the correct ranges are input in X-axis and Series sections.
Move to the “Customize” tab in the chart editor and customize your chart if you want.
How to insert a chart from the menu bar in Google Sheets
How to change the “Chart type” and other elements in the Chart editor
Learn how to customize the design of the default chart. Assume you want to create the graph in the picture below by changing its formatting. You need to go through the steps under the screenshot.
A sample line chart in Google Sheets
In the “Chart style” section, select light blue in “Background color”. Then, go to “Font” and select “Arial”.
Navigate to “Chart & axis titles”. Choose “Chart title” in the drop-down list at the top and enter a chart title in the text box. Ensure the font is “Arial” here. Click the “Bold” icon in “Title format” and select blue in “Title text color”.
In the “Series” tab, change “Line color” to blue, and choose “7px” for “Point size” and “circle” for “Point shape”. Check the box next to “Data labels” to add data labels.
In the same section, scroll down to the items under the checkbox for “Data labels”. Change the position of the labels to “Left”, select “Arial” for “Data label font”, and “12” for “Data label font size”. Make their font “Bold”.
Navigate to the “Legend” section. Add a legend by selecting “Bottom” in “Position” and make it bold.
Go to “Horizontal Axis” and change “Slant labels” to “60”.
Determine the y-axis by inputting minimum and maximum values for the range in text boxes.
In “Gridlines & ticks”, click “Horizontal axis” in the pull-down menu at the top. Choose “10” in “Major count”,and check “Major gridlines”.
Step 1: Change the background color and font of a line graph.
Step 2: Type in a chart title and change its font and color
Step 3: Change the formatting of the line in the chart.
Step 4: Adjust the formatting of data labels
Step 5: Add legend and its style
Step 6: Change the angle of the x-axis labels
Step 7: Define the y-axis range
Step 8: Change the number of the x-axis labels and show major gridlines for the x-axis
As you can see, there are many ways to customize your graph. Check other formats we haven’t touched upon in this example and optimize your chart for your output purpose.
How do you make a line graph with two data sets in Google Sheets?
Even if you want to create a line chart with two or more data sets, you don’t need to change the way of making a line chart based on a single data set significantly.
Prepare data for another line. It is “Operating Margin (%)” for twelve months in the following example.
Go to “Chart editor” for the existing chart. Include the newly added data in the “Data range”.
Navigate to the “Series” section in the “Setup” tab, and add the additional information as another series.
Click the second line on the graph, move to the “Customize” tab, and change the design of the added line as you did for the first line.
How to create a line graph based on two sets of data
How to add a different scale of vertical axis for the second data set
Click the second line you created.
Navigate to “Series” in the “Customize” tab.
Select “Right” in “Axis” for the second series if you selected “Left” for the first line.
You can adjust the range of the second vertical axis in the “Right vertical axis” in the “Customize” tab in the editor.
How to add the second vertical axis for a line chart in Google Sheets
Are you interested in creating a customized KPI dashboard reflecting your data in real time? Check LiveFlow and the following template with graphs.
Here is an example of how charts are utilized for data sharing and reporting.
Analyze your live financial data in a snap
Are you learning this formula to visualize financial data, build a financial model, or conduct financial analysis? In that case, LiveFlow may help you automate manual workflows and update numbers in real-time. You can access various financial templates on our website, from the simple Income Statement to Multi-Currency Consolidated Financial Statement. You can also customize these templates as you want without breaking the automated data inflow.
Automate any custom financial dashboard in Google Sheets with LiveFlow
How do you make other types of graphs?
It is easy. After inserting a graph, select another chart pattern in the “Chart” type section. You can learn how to create other basic charts in the following articles.
