Sometimes it's important to change the scale on a graph because the scale is too small or large to accurately show all the bars on the graph's X or Y-axis. Related: How To Make Bar Graphs in Excel (Plus Tips and When To Use Them) Why is it important to change the scale on an Excel graph? They're useful when displaying data with long labels, such as long company names or names of people. For example, a sales manager might use a line graph to show his supervisor each rep's total sales for the past six months.īar: A bar chart is similar to a column chart, but the bars display information horizontally rather than vertically. Line: A line graph shows the trend of certain data over a period of time to help people determine future trends. For example, if a book publishing company wanted to show executives the percentage of people who preferred each genre, they could use a pie graph. Pie: Pie graphs allow users to compare proportions of the total amount. If a wildlife conservationist wanted to compare how the total number of two different species has increased or decreased over the past five years, they could use a column graph to display the information. There are a variety of graphs you can choose from when using Excel, including:Ĭolumn: People frequently use columns when comparing data. Graphs can be a useful visual tool to show comparisons of data and easily display the total values of some of the workbook's data. Some people add graphs when giving presentations to simplify a large volume of numbers on a workbook.

Related: How To Make a Graph in Excel What is an Excel graph?Īn Excel graph is a chart that represents the user's data. In this article, we explain what an Excel graph is, why you may need to change the scale on a graph, how to do it and some tips. Occasionally, they'd like to change the scale of the graph to more accurately display its information by adjusting some of the numbers on the Y-axis. Sometimes users display the data by creating Excel graphs so that the information is easier to view and understand. Microsoft Excel is can be a useful program when inputting, calculating and displaying data.

Excel graph axis label increments