Microsoft Excel chart tutorials & data visualization guides
Ready to move beyond standard Excel graphs? Browse our free collection of step-by-step videos and articles to learn how to build custom, professional data visualizations directly in Microsoft Excel.
Design & present complex charts
Tackle a set of novel graphs in our latest on-demand learning offering. Design and present complex charts in PowerPoint will walk you through a series of step-by-step video lessons with over 100 minutes of content. You'll master scatterplots, box plots, bubble graphs, radar charts, and horizon charts. Each chart module contains lessons on understanding, creating, designing and presenting them effectively.
Add emphasis and additional context
EMPHASIZE A
DATA POINT
LABELING DATA
ADDING A SHADED RANGE
ADDING A
VERTICAL LINE
VISUALIZING UNCERTAINTY
ADDING SPARING DATA MARKERS
ADDING EMPHASIS TO AREA CHARTS
DISPLAY ACTUALS
& FORECASTS
USE DATA SERIES ORDER TO HIGHLIGHT WHAT MATTERS
CREATE A PARTIAL SHADED REGION
FORECAST WITH A SHADED AREA
AXIS VS. DATA LABELS
FOUR WAYS TO PRESENT PARTIAL DATA
Go behind the slides
If you’re looking to level up your PowerPoint skills, check out our specially curated on-demand learning course. Behind the Slides: good to great PowerPoint presentations will teach you how to create compelling and effective slides at your own pace with access to 5 learning modules containing 30+ video lessons to master new skills.
Move beyond default outputs
MOVING A
CHART AXIS
FORMATTING
THE X-AXIS
DISPLAYING A VALUE IN A RANGE
ADDING TOTALS TO STACKED BARS
DON’T STRETCH YOUR GRAPHS!
USE COLORBLIND FRIENDLY COLORS
ELIMINATE GRAPH CLUTTER
NEVER USE A DEFAULT LEGEND AGAIN
USE WHITE SPACE
AND ALIGNMENT
EIGHT WAYS TO
EDIT A LEGEND
SUPER CATEGORY
AXIS LABELS
ADJUSTING
BAR WIDTH
GRAPH ELEMENTS DIRECTLY IN CELLS
COMBO CHART CHALLENGES
DON’T TRUNCATE YOUR BARS!
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Knaflic, Cole. storytellingwithdata.com. © 2025