Want to turn your data into a nice looking line graph? Here’s how to create a line graph in Google Sheets.
Graphs are powerful tools for visualizing data in spreadsheets. They make numbers and their significance easier to understand and easier to estimate than numbers.
Google Sheets has a wide variety of graph types. One of these graphs is the line graph. Line graphs are used to display trends in a spreadsheet. There are many variations in the line graph itself. Once you learn what scenarios each type is useful for, creating line drawings is a piece of cake.
What is a Line Graph?
A line graph or line chart is a graphic used to visualize data to show trends. Line graphs make it easy for you and your audience to tell the direction of a series of data.
You cannot use any graph to visualize any set of data. Graphs have optimal output when they are used in the right context, and line graphs are best used to show trends.
There are types of line graphs in Google Sheets:
- line chart: Basic Line Chart. Data are shown as points on a chart and are connected to each other through lines.
- smooth line chart: Essentially the same as a line chart, with a slight visual twitch that makes the lines smoother.
- combo chart: Combines column charts and line charts together and displays different series of data in a single graph.
How to Create a Line Graph in Google Sheets
As an example, we are going to create a line graph for the total and annual views of a viral video from 2018 to 2021. To do this, you can either create a line graph first and then add numbers and labels, or add them up and then draw a graph. Circumstances usually demand that you choose the latter path, so we are going to take that path too.
- Enter the data in your spreadsheet.
- Select all cells. To do this, you can select a cell and then drag and drop the selection in the opposite direction to the last cell.
- From the Sheets menu, choose insert,
- Choose Chart, Sheets will create a graph for the cell you selected. Based on the prediction, the graph type (line, column, pie, etc.) is automatically decided by Sheets. In this case, it is possible that you get a line graph.
If you don’t get the line graph automatically, you can also select it manually.
- In chart editor, Under Set-up tab, click chart type To see a drop-down menu of available graph types.
- Choose line chart,
How to Create a Combo Chart in Google Sheets
Combo charts display data in combination with line and column graphs. Therefore, at least two series are needed to combine and display a combo chart. If you want to display a single range of numbers, you should stick to either a line graph or a column graph, depending on your needs.
Let’s create a combo chart for the example spreadsheet used in the previous section.
- Select all cells.
- Open the Insert menu.
- Choose Chart,
- Once you have your graph, go to Set-up tab in chart editor,
- Choose chart type and change it combo chart, Sheets will now create combo charts.
If you want to display a different series with a line graph and the other with a column graph, you can easily swap the two in the chart editor.
- Select Chart.
- Click the three vertical dots in the upper-left corner, and then select edit chart from menu. This will open the chart editor.
- Under Set-up go to tab in chart editor Chain section.
- Click on the first series and select the one you want to display the column graph with.
- Click on the second series and then select the series you want to display with the line graph.
Yellow! Your combo chart will certainly make the data table a lot easier to understand.
visualize your trends
Graphs are great graphics that help you visualize your data tables in Google Sheets. Line graphs are mostly used to show trends in a single series, although you can use combo charts to combine columns and lines to view multiple series in a single graph.
Google Sheets is an easy-to-use, yet sophisticated tool. You will definitely have an advantage by mastering it when dealing with numbers.
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