Floating column chart with up down bars

One of the charts you'll see around is a so called "floating column chart", where columns rise up off the horizontal axis to depict some sort of value range. There are many ways to make this kind of chart in Excel, and Jon Peltier has a very comprehensive run-down here.

April 14, 2025 · 1 min · 7 words · Richard Clarke

The advantage of this approach is simplicity.

Data used to create floating column chart with up down bars

Data used to create floating column chart with up down bars

Data used to create floating column chart with up down bars

Data used to create floating column chart with up down bars

Data used to create floating column chart with up down bars

Insert line chart from ribbon

Select basic 2d option

Chart as inserted

Select chart and add up/down bars

Select each data series and set to no line

After setting each data series to “no line”

Format axis to set upper and lower bounds

Final floating column chart before title, sizing, font, etc.

Data used to create floating column chart with up down bars