Creating Sparklines

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated July 6, 2022)
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:

  1. Select the cell where you want the sparkline to appear.
  2. Display the Insert tab of the ribbon.
  3. In the Sparklines group, click whichever type of sparkline you want to appear: Line, Column, or Win/Loss. (Each of these represents a different type of chart.) Excel displays the Create Sparklines dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

    4. Figure 1. The Create Sparkline dialog box.

  4. Specify, in the Data Range box, the range you want charted in the sparkline.
  5. Click OK.

You should see your sparkline appear immediately in the cell you specified in step 1.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (12588) applies to Microsoft Excel 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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