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3 In-Cell Alternatives for Using Charts in Excel

OFFICE 2016. EXPLAINED.

Use Sparklines to create graphic in-cell charts

TIP 1

Sparklines are great to give you (or your audience) the big

picture quickly without the fuss of a full-fledged chart. There

are three types of in-cell Sparkline charts you can create. To

add one of these three Sparklines, go to the Insert tab and

click the button for the Sparkline you want to use.

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Washington

Oregon

California

JAN

61

638

643

FEB

(654)

236

(355)

MAR

330

(345)

129

APR

646

835

154

MAY

831

278

709

JUN TREND

574

877

324

LineTIP 1

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Washington

Oregon

California

JAN

61

638

643

FEB

(654)

236

(355)

MAR

330

(345)

129

APR

646

835

154

MAY

831

278

709

JUN TREND

574

877

324

ColumnTIP 1

Win/Loss

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Washington

Oregon

California

JAN

61

638

643

FEB

(654)

236

(355)

MAR

330

(345)

129

APR

646

835

154

MAY

831

278

709

JUN TREND

574

877

324

TIP 1

Formatting Options to Consider1. USING SPARKLINES TO CREATE GRAPHIC IN-CELL CHARTS

Consider the following formatting options for your Sparkline Charts

Adjust the width or height of the cells containing the Sparklines to tell your

story better by giving more context to the scale being displayed

Add markers to all of the data points, or just the high and low points

Use an axis to display negative numbers

Change the colors to match your document’s theme

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Washington

Oregon

California

JAN

61

638

643

FEB

(654)

236

(355)

MAR

330

(345)

129

APR

646

835

154

MAY

831

278

709

JUN TREND

574

877

324

Use Conditional Formatting Options to create in-cell charts

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Conditional formatting is another quick in-cell alternative to creating a

separate chart in Excel. Simply select your data and then choose

Conditional Formatting on the Home tab. Start by going to the Home tab,

then click on Conditional Formatting > Data Bars > Solid Fill

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Conditional Formatting

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By default, Excel will continue to show the data values in

those cells over the top of the bars.

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If you just want to see the

bars, go back to the

Conditional Formatting

menu and choose

Manage Rules. Then click

Edit Rules and check the

box “Show Bar Only.”

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Quick tip!

Use Symbols and the REPT function for in-cell charts

TIP 3

The third in-cell alternative is to use the REPT or Repeat

function as an alternative to charts in Excel.

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REPT functionTIP 3

The REPT function will repeat the same text or symbol a specific number of

times. Let’s say you have salary information in Column D of your workbook. In

Column E you could type:

=REPT(“$”,D2)

For each value in Column D, this will give you a corresponding number of

dollar signs in Column E.

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If the number is too large, you

can divide the value to make it

smaller.

For example, you could have

=REPT(“$”,D2/10000) which will

give you fewer dollar signs but it

will still give you a relative

number for your data set.

Quick tip #1Instead of using text as the

first argument in the REPT

function, you can insert a

symbol from the Symbol menu

on the Insert tab.

Quick tip #2

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Quicktip!

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