How to Create a Stacked Column Chart in Google Sheets

Hey besties! Today, we’re going to learn how to create a stacked column chart in Google Sheets. This type of chart is super useful when you want to present continuous data over time, like monthly revenue growth rates.

Creating a Stacked Column Chart in Google Sheets

Here are the simple steps to create a stacked column chart in Google Sheets:

1. Select the data range you want to visualize.
2. Go to the “Insert” tab and click on “Chart,” or use the “Insert Chart” icon in the toolbar.
3. You’ll get a default chart on a sheet, and a chart editor will appear on the right.
4. In the editor’s “Setup” tab, select “Stacked column chart” in the “Chart type” section.
5. Check the selected data range and adjust it if needed.
6. Also, make sure the correct ranges are entered in the “X-axis” and “Series” sections.
7. Switch to the “Customize” tab in the chart editor and customize your chart if desired.

Learn how to customize the design of the chart. Let’s say you want to create the chart in the image below by modifying its detailed design and formatting. You’ll need to follow the steps below the screenshot.

1. In the “Chart style” section, go to “Font” and select “Arial.”
2. Go to “Chart & axis titles.” Choose “Chart title” from the dropdown at the top and enter a chart title in the text box. Click on the “Bold” icon in the “Title format” and select blue as the “Title text color.” Make sure the font is “Arial.”
3. In the “Series” tab, choose “Division D” from the dropdown (not “Apply to all series”), change the “Line color” to red and set the “Occupancy” to “100%,” and select “4px” for “Line thickness.”
4. Stay in the “Series” section. Change the selection in the top tab to “Apply to all series,” go to the bottom of the section, check the box next to “Data labels” for a data label for each category, and the one next to “Total data label” to show the total amounts of the columns. Make sure the label font is “Arial.”
5. Go to the “Legend” section. Add a legend by selecting “Bottom” for the “Position” and make it bold.
6. Define the y-axis by entering the minimum and maximum values of the range in the text boxes.

As you can see, there are plenty of options and choices in each section (like the “Vertical axis” section shown earlier), which means there are many ways to customize your chart. Explore the other details we haven’t covered in this example to better understand and optimize your chart according to your needs.

How to Change the Order of Legend and Data?

By default, the order of segments in a stacked column chart is reversed from the order of items in the data source. You can change the order of categories in the chart by following the steps below. We recommend doing this before modifying the detailed designs of your chart.

1. Go to the “Setup” tab of the chart editor.
2. Switch to the “Series” section and change the order of the series as desired. For example, let’s say you want to place “Division A” at the top of the bar (or the leftmost segment in the legend), followed by Division B, C, and D. In that case, reverse the order of the series names—the order should be “Division D,” “Division C,” “Division B,” and “Division A” from top to bottom.
3. The legend and segment order in the bars will update automatically.

And there you have it! You now know how to create a stacked column chart in Google Sheets and customize its details. Feel free to explore further and experiment to get a chart that perfectly suits your needs. If you want to learn more about Google Sheets and discover other tips and tricks, visit Crawlan.com.

See you soon for more exciting discoveries!