How to Create a Line Chart in Excel
You’ll want to choose a line chart when you need to chart something that changes over time.
Excel Instruction
Making a Line Chart
- 1.
- Make a frequency table of something that changes over time in
Excel. - 2.
- Highlight all the cells that make up the table, and choose the chart type
Line chart. - 3.
- Add chart elements and make changes so your chart appears informative and clear. Remember to include a title for your chart!
Example 1
Make a line chart that represents the temperature across several blocks of two hours.
- 1.
- First you’ll need some temperature measurements for different times throughout the day.
- 2.
- Highlight the frequency table you’ve created and choose
Insertfrom the top menu bar inExcel. Then selectline chartfrom theRecommended Chartsmenu. If an appropriate line chart doesn’t appear, choose from theLine Chartmenu next to theRecommended Chartsmenu. - 3.
- This line chart looks pretty good already. To make it even clearer, you can add the axis title "Time" for the horizontal axis. You can also add different chart elements to customize it like you want, for example change the color of the line, or change range of temperatures to display along the vertical axis.
The final line chart should look like this:
