How to make a chart in Google Sheets: types and settings

Which chart to use

Start from the question the chart has to answer, then check that the data is laid out the way that chart type reads it. The layouts below follow Google’s help pages on chart types (checked in October 2026).

The chart editor also offers tree map, geo, radar, gauge and table charts; Google’s page linked above describes each of them.

Make a chart step by step

Step 1: Select the data

Select the table together with its headers. The example is a product table in B2:G9: product IDs in the first column and five numeric columns.

Step 2: Insert the chart

Click Insert > Chart.

Step 3: Choose the chart type

Sheets picks a type on its own. To change it, open Chart type in the Setup tab. The list is grouped: Line, Area, Column, Bar, Pie, Scatter, Map and Other.

The other fields of the Setup tab:

• Data range: the cells behind the chart. Click the grid icon to change it, or Add another range to plot cells that are not next to each other.
• X-axis and Series: which column gives the labels and which columns are plotted. Remove a series here to drop it from the chart.
• Switch rows / columns: plots the header row on the axis and the first column as the series.
• Use row as headers and Use column as labels: tell Sheets that the first row and column hold names, not data.

Step 4: Adjust the look

Open the Customize tab. Its sections are described further down, under “Customize a chart”.

Chart types with examples

Line chart

A line chart shows how a value changes from one label to the next, most often over time. With one numeric column it draws one line.

Each additional numeric column adds a line. Select B2:G9 and the chart gets five lines, one for each cost column.

To round the corners of the lines, choose Smooth line chart as the chart type, or check Smooth in Customize > Chart style.

Smoothing changes the picture, not the data: the curve between two points is drawn, not measured. Do not read values off it.

Column chart

A column chart compares categories with vertical bars.

A stacked column chart puts the series of one category on top of each other, so the height of the column is the total. A 100% stacked column chart makes all columns the same height and shows the shares.

For a ranking, sort the table from the largest value to the smallest before you build the chart. A column chart follows the order of the rows.

Compare mode (a checkbox in Customize > Chart style) changes what happens on hover: the tooltip lists the values of all series for that category, not only the one under the cursor.

Bar chart

A bar chart is a column chart turned on its side. Use it when the labels are long or there are many categories.

Two or three numeric columns give two or three bars for each label.

Negative numbers are drawn to the other side of the axis, which makes a simple profit and loss chart: one column of profits, one of losses entered as negative values.

Stacked bars, data labels and error bars are covered in the guide to bar graphs.

Area chart

An area chart is a line chart with the space under the line filled. It suits one or two series; with more, the areas cover each other. The stacked area chart avoids that by putting the series on top of each other.

Pie chart

A pie chart shows one column of positive numbers as shares of their total. Each row is a slice; rows with zero or negative values are left out. More than five or six slices are hard to compare, so group the small ones into “Other” first.

Scatter chart

A scatter chart plots points by two numbers: the first column gives the position on the horizontal axis, every other column a series of points. It is the chart for the question “do these two measures move together”.

In the screenshot the first column holds product IDs, so the points are only lined up above the labels. A scatter chart becomes useful when the first column is a number, such as ad spend against orders. A trendline (Customize > Series > Trendline) then shows the direction of the relationship.

Bubble chart

A bubble chart adds a third measure as the size of the point. The columns are read in a fixed order: label, X value, Y value, series name, size.

Waterfall chart

A waterfall chart shows how positive and negative values add up, step by step, to a total. Put the labels in the first column and the changes in the second, with decreases as negative numbers.

Candlestick chart

A candlestick chart draws one marker for each row from four numbers. The columns have to be in the order Google’s help gives: label, high, open, close, low. The thin line runs from the low to the high, the box from the open to the close.

The table in the screenshot lists the prices as open, high, low, close, which is how most price exports arrive. Reorder the columns to high, open, close, low before charting. Historical prices can be pulled into the sheet with GOOGLEFINANCE.

Organizational chart

An organizational chart needs two columns: a name and the name of the person or unit above it. The top of the hierarchy has an empty second cell.

Histogram

A histogram counts how many values fall into each interval (bucket). It needs only numbers, no label column. The bucket size is set in Customize > Histogram.

Timeline chart

A timeline chart is an interactive line chart for dates: the first column must hold dates, and the chart gets zoom buttons and a range selector under it.

Combo chart

A combo chart draws some series as columns and others as lines. In Customize > Series, choose a series and set its type. When the series have different scales, for example revenue and conversion rate, move one of them to the right axis: Customize > Series > Axis > Right axis.

A Pareto chart is a combo chart with extra preparation: sort the table in descending order, add a column with the cumulative share, plot the values as columns and the cumulative share as a line on the right axis. The cumulative share for the row in C3 of a table that ends in C9:

=SUM($C$3:C3)/SUM($C$3:$C$9)

Customize a chart

Double-click the chart and open the Customize tab. The sections depend on the chart type; these are the common ones.

Chart style

Background color, font and border of the chart, and the checkboxes Smooth, Maximize (stretches the plot to the edges), Plot null values and Compare mode. Reset layout returns moved titles and legends to their places.

Chart and axis titles

Choose which title to edit (chart title, subtitle, horizontal or vertical axis title), type the text and set the font, size, format and color. You can also double-click a title on the chart and type over it.

Series

Pick one series or apply the settings to all: color, opacity, line thickness and dash type, point size and shape, and the axis the series belongs to. Below are Format data point, Error bars, Data labels and Trendline.

Legend

Position, font, size, format and color of the legend. Choose None as the position to hide it, which is the right choice for a chart with one series.

Horizontal axis

Font and color of the labels, Reverse axis order, and Slant labels, which sets the angle of long labels.

Vertical axis

Label font, Show axis line, the minimum and maximum of the axis, the scale factor, the number format and Log scale. Left empty, the minimum and maximum are chosen by Sheets.

A log scale helps when a few values are many times larger than the rest: each step on the axis is a multiplication, not an addition. In a bar chart the values are on the horizontal axis, so the checkbox is in that section.

Setting the minimum of a column or bar chart above zero makes small differences look large. Leave it at zero unless the chart says clearly that the axis is cut.

Gridlines and ticks

Choose the axis, then set the spacing of the major and minor gridlines and switch gridlines and ticks on or off.

Manage a chart

• Move or resize: click the chart once, then drag it or drag the blue markers.
• Copy: select the chart and press Ctrl+C (Cmd+C on a Mac), then paste it on any sheet of the file. The copy is linked to the same data range.
• Move to its own sheet, download, publish: open the three-dot menu in the corner of the chart. The download formats are PNG, PDF and SVG.
• Add rows to the chart: edit the Data range in the Setup tab. A range without an end row, such as B2:G, includes rows added later.
• Delete: select the chart and press Delete.

Common problems with charts

⚠️ Problem: The chart is empty or a series is missing.

✅ Solution: The numbers are stored as text. Convert them with Format > Number, and check the column for stray symbols and spaces.

⚠️ Problem: The headers are plotted as a data point, or the legend shows no names.

✅ Solution: Check Use row as headers in the Setup tab.

⚠️ Problem: The series and the labels are the wrong way round.

✅ Solution: Check Switch rows / columns in the Setup tab.

⚠️ Problem: One series is a flat line at the bottom of the chart.

✅ Solution: Its values are far smaller than the others, for example a rate next to a revenue. Move it to the right axis in Customize > Series, or use a combo chart.

⚠️ Problem: Dates on the axis are spaced evenly although the gaps between them differ.

✅ Solution: The dates are text. Convert them to real dates; the guide to dates and times shows how to check.

⚠️ Problem: New rows do not appear in the chart.

✅ Solution: The data range ends above them. Extend the range in the Setup tab.

Related guides

• Bar graphs: Stacked bars, data labels and error bars.
• Pivot charts: Charts built on a pivot table.
• Pivot tables: Summarize the rows before plotting them.
• SPARKLINE: A small chart inside one cell.
• Slicers: Filter controls for charts and pivot tables.
• QUERY: Build the summary table a chart needs.
• How to sort data: Put the rows in the order the chart should show.
• Exploratory data analysis: Look at a dataset before reporting on it.

The chart is the last step, the data is the first

Every chart in this guide redraws when the cells under it change. What a chart cannot do is tell whether those cells are current, or whether the revenue in them was calculated the same way as in the chart on the next tab. When the numbers arrive as exports pasted by hand, each chart is as old as its last paste.

The OWOX Data Marts extension for Google Sheets covers that half. A data analyst publishes a data mart (a table or an SQL query in your data warehouse) and makes it available for reports. In Sheets you open the extension, pick the data mart, tick the columns you want and run it. The rows land in a tab, ready for your formulas.

What changes for the person who maintains the sheet:

• Refresh replaces re-export. Refresh current report in the extension menu re-runs the same pull, and a scheduled refresh keeps the tab current without anyone touching it.
• The source is written on the sheet. The header cell of an imported tab carries a note with the data mart it came from, the time of the import and a link to the report.
• No SQL and no warehouse access needed. The analyst decides which data marts and columns are available. You choose from that list.

The extension does not write or change the analyst’s SQL. The charts on top of that range redraw from the refreshed rows, and all of them are built on one definition of each number. The extension comes with the OWOX Cloud plans of OWOX Data Marts; spreadsheet reporting describes both ways data reaches a sheet.

Google Sheets TipsPivot tables in Google Sheets: how to create and use themOctober 2, 2026→Google Sheets TipsQUERY with CONCATENATE in Google Sheets: join two columnsOctober 2, 2026→Google Sheets TipsIF with VLOOKUP in Google Sheets: formulas and examplesOctober 2, 2026→

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