Creating Sparklines

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated October 13, 2018)

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, and Excel in Office 365.

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. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Unable to Edit Document with Embedded Fonts

What are you to do if you embed fonts in a document and then someone else cannot make changes to that document? Chances ...

Discover More

Clearing and Deleting Cells

When you want to remove information from a worksheet, you can either clear cells or delete cells. This tip examines the ...

Discover More

Deleting All Rows Except for the End of Month

If you use a worksheet to track day-to-day data, you might want to delete all of the data except the data for the last ...

Discover More

Comprehensive VBA Guide Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is the language used for writing macros in all Office programs. This complete guide shows both professionals and novices how to master VBA in order to customize the entire Office suite for their needs. Check out Mastering VBA for Office 2010 today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Exporting Black and White Charts

Excel's charts are normally created in color, but you can print them in black and white. You may be looking for a way to ...

Discover More

Adjusting the Angle of Axis Labels

When creating a chart, your axis labels may be wider than desired. One way to deal with them is to change the angle at ...

Discover More

Adjusting Your View of 3-D Graphs

Do you use Excel's charting capabilities to display three-dimensional views of your data? The program provides a way that ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is nine minus 5?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)

This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2022 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.