Charts are an easy way to visually represent data. Charts are a good tool to be used in presentations or to convey data to other users.
Charts in Google Sheets are dynamic and will automatically adjust if data in the worksheet is changed.
Charts are an easy way to visually represent data. Charts are a good tool to be used in presentations or to convey data to other users.
Charts in Google Sheets are dynamic and will automatically adjust if data in the worksheet is changed.
If you are beginning this course at this point, you will need to copy the practice workbook to your Google Drive.
NOTE: If you have been working through the course, your file should be up to date and you will not need to copy the practice document. You may continue at Creating a chart.
Right-click Copy practice workbook, Click Open link in new window
The file begins to open in a new window of the web browser. Before the document will open and can be edited, we need to make a copy of it.
Move to the new browser window.
Click
A copy of the file is now open and, by default, is saved in your Google Drive. The filename now has the words "Copy of" at the beginning.
Let's create a pie chart to compare the number of items sold. Google Sheets makes it simple to create and format a chart.
To begin we will need to select the data we want to be included in the chart. In this case, the names of the items and the number of items sold (columns A and C). To select non-contiguous data in Google Sheets, we'll need to hold down the Control key while selecting the data.
Press & drag A2:A6
Control key + Press & drag C2:C6
The selected cells look like this:
Click Insert, Click Chart
A column chart appears in the worksheet and the Chart editor panel opens:
While the default column chart accurately displays our data, we have several other chart type options. We can use the Setup options of this panel to change the chart type to pie chart.
Click
Click
The chart looks like this:
The pie chart is showing each of the items as well as the percentage of the total each item represents.
Google Sheets makes it easy to modify a chart by using the Customize tab of the Chart editor panel. Let's add the total number of each item to the chart.
NOTE: If the Chart editor panel has closed, in the chart, Click , then Click Edit chart.
Click
Click
Click , Click Value
The number, or value, of each item, has been added to each slice of the pie. Using the options in the Chart editor panel, we could change the font, size, format, or color of these labels. For now, we'll leave them as they are.
The pie chart may be covering part of the data in the worksheet. If so, it is easy to move the chart to another area.
Press & drag the pie chart below the data
Click a blank area of the worksheet
The chart is now positioned below the data and the data is fully visible.