How to build a bar chart

Let’s plot this data in a bar chart.

you might see we have the count for each response, with a little over 1900 responses total.

Now let’s plot just the counts.

I’ll select only the count data, excluding totals, then click Recommended charts.

Then I’ll choose the bar option.

I then just have to go for the bar chart and click OK.

This is a good start.

Now let’s add a title.

Just snag the title, bang out “=”, and click B2.

Excel will add the reference and pick up the title.

Now let’s make the bars thicker.

Now, if I sort largest to smallest, Excel plots the bars in reverse order.

In other words, the origin is the beginning.

Excel will then place the longer bars at the top of the chart.

OK next, let’s change this chart to plot percentage values instead of counts.

Finally, since this chart is very simple, let’s remove some unnecessary visual clutter.

I’ll select and delete the gridlines, and the value axis.

And then I’ll add data labels.

Now we have a simple bar chart that clearly represents the data.