59 comments This post is part of, read the rest of posts and cheat excel to become productive. A combination chart is when you combine two different charts to make one. A popular example of combination charts is a line & bar graph combination.

See below illustration: Today we will learn how to create a simple combination chart. • For our combination chart, we will use the following data of Sales & Profits • First we will make a simple bar chart for the sales data.

Just select the Sales data table, go to insert > chart and specify type as “column chart” (this is the default selection btw). Once you are done, the chart looks like this: • Now, select the profits data, press ctrl+c to copy it to clip board, and select the sales chart you have created above, and press ctrl+v to paste this data in to the sales chart. Essentially we are adding one more series of data to the sales chart. • Now the chart should look like below. Right click on the new series (profits) and select “chart type”.

• From the chart type dialog change the type of chart from “column” to “line” (or whatever other type you fancy) • That is all, you have successfully created a combination chart in excel. And learn by experimenting. As you can probably guess by now, there are some restrictions on what you can mix though. Best way to learn and understand combination charts is by experimenting.

Just select one of the data series and change the chart type. Read other to make your day to day spreadsheeting a breeze. Hey chandoo, love your site, i use it every week for help with my job. I'm trying to do the combo chart here but have 2 problems. 1 - you don't describe how to the the axis data into the right hand side of the chart. Critical for comparing 2 sets of data with different scales (like volume and $). Is this possible?

To change the chart type to a line chart, I’ll break out the processes for 2013 and 2011 separately since the steps for the Mac are so different.

2 - I'm having problems copying the data series. Doesn't work for me at all, even when I download your sample spreadsheet. Now I have Excel 2003, maybe this is a function of Excel 2007 only? Thanks for the feedback! Cristobal Colon. @Cristobal: You are welcome 1. Adding another axis without going for combination charts is simple.

You can select the particular series you want to move to other axis and go to format series and change the axis. Once the new axis shows up, scaling etc. Is same as the primary axis.

Copy pasting data works in Excel 2003 as well. If this doesnt work, just use data dialog. Right click on chart, go to Select Data option and add more series. Once the series is added now change its chart type.

Let me know if you still have problems. Good Morning Chandoo I landed on your website just by accident, and I haven't stopped surfing. Eventhough I am at work and I should not be surfing but I am doing this because I cannot stop reading all the info you provide. However, I do have a question, ofcourse it is work related.

I am suppose to create a dashboard and I don't know how. People are creating a speedometer etc. And I don't know what they are talking about. I am using Excel 2003 and I don't know if I can create a dashboard or not. Perhaps I can create something similar to a dashboard using MS Excel 2003. Is there any help you can provide?(Ofcourse you can). I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you, so much Geeta. Problem with reaching both vertical axis is related to your Horizontal axis I have excel 2013. The issue is that you have to set the minimum and maximum boundaries on the horizontal axis so that your data touches both vertical y-axis. In my case, my first data point was on date, and my last one was on: -Right clicked on the horizontal date axis, and clicked format axis -On axis options, Select Date Axis.This is gonna change the horizontal dates from ' to '1/1/2015'. We don't want that yet but thats okay - THIS IS THE IMPORTANT PART: Set the minimum at ' and the Maximum at '.

This will automatically set the horizontal axis so that the data on the graph touches both the primary y-axis, and the secondary y-axis But of course, in my case, I don't want the dates to say '1/1/2015'.I want them to say ' or whatever date/information you input to create the graph originally -On the Axis options--->Axis type--->select 'text axis' again. You should have gotten what you wanted. Hello Chandoo first of all you are really wonderful when it comes to sharing all this things with the world the most practical resource i have encountered. One question is it ok to have the secondary axis like this.I am looking at your final chart with the 2 data series, what i notice is that 0 to 50 in the left side for the 1st data equals the 0 to 25 on the right side.

As long as the unit we use is the same - in your example $ dont u think the 2nd should be some how independent in regards to the primary one. All the best, Iuliana. Very helpful post. But what if I want both series as bars, side by side, and NOT stacked? In Excel 2010 I have the two sets of bars in one barchart, I select one of the data series, and then click 'secondary axis'. But now it is a stacked bar chart with two axes!