Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated September 30, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021
Excel 2010 introduced a new feature referred to as sparklines. They are nothing more than miniature charts that can appear inside a single cell. The graphs aren't as varied and full-featured as regular Excel charts, but they are pretty cool, nonetheless. They are especially good for showing, at a glance, the general trend of the numbers in a range of cells.
To create a sparkline, follow these steps:
Figure 1. The Create Sparkline dialog box.
You should see your sparkline appear immediately in the cell you specified in step 1.
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2023-10-04 12:54:55
Dave S
Sparklines can be useful, for the reason given above. But if the end user's requirements require more than one line (for example, to show trend relative to some target value) remember that you can create your own 'sparkline' by placing a normal chart into a cell. Create the chart, delete everything apart from the lines, then snap fit chart area to a cell and finally snap fit the plot area to the cell. As it is a real chart you can change line type, thickness and colour as required.
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