How-to Easily Create a Stacked
Clustered Column Chart in Excel
There is one type of chart that is always requested, however,
Excel doesn’t offer this type of chart. What could it be?
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Excel does not offer a Clustered Stacked Column chart, nor does it offer a Clustered
Stacked Bar chart.
Excel offers a Clustered Column chart type and a Stacked Column chart type, but it
doesn’t offer the combination of these two charts. Same goes for a Clustered Stacked
Bar chart.
What does Clustered Stacked Column Chart show?
Well a clustered stacked column chart would allow you to group your data (or cluster
the data points) but use it in conjunction with a stacked column chart type.
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Here, is what a Clustered Stacked Column Chart would look like:
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Here is what a Clustered Stacked Bar Chart would look like:
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Clustered Stacked Column or Bar Chart Type is
Not Available in Excel
Why doesn’t Microsoft Excel offer these types of charts? I don’t
know, but they are commonly requested by users.
In this tutorial, I will show you how to make a Clustered Stacked
Column Chart, but the technique is the same when creating a
Clustered Stacked Bar Chart.
The only difference is that you will choose a stacked bar chart
instead of a stacked column chart. Other than that, everything
else is exactly the same.
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The Breakdown
1) Create a Chart Data Range
2) Create Stacked Column Chart or Stacked Bar Chart
(Note: this tutorial will show only the Stacked Column Chart Type but
the techniques are the same)
3) Switch Row/Column
4) Change Column Gap Width
5) Change Vertical Axis
6) Change White Fill Series to a Color of White
7) Remove the White Fill Label from the Legend
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Step-by-Step - 1) Create a Chart Data Range
This is the critical step in making an EASY
Stacked Clustered Column Chart.
There are other ways to create this Excel chart
type, but they are not easy and usually confuse
people.
What my solution involves is using Multi-level
Category Labels as your Horizontal Axis
format.
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More On Excel Multi-Level Categories in Charts
•
Multi-level categories is the key. You can check out other
examples of charts that I have created with Multi-level
Category Labels here:
•
Case Study Solution – Mom Needing Help on Science Fair
Graphs/Charts
•
This chart is going to compare the advertising spend on two
different products in four categories for both budgeted
numbers and actual numbers.
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So here is how we want to set up our data:
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• As you can see, I have 2 products. Then I have
a separate line for the budgeted advertising
dollars and the actual advertising spent.
• There are 4 categories of the budget and
expenditures related to Radio, Print,
Television and Internet.
• You will also see a chart data series on the right
called White Fill. This is used to create a blank
between the clusters. You can check out a post
with a similar trick here:
• How-to Make a Wall Street Journal Horizontal
Panel Chart in Excel
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Stacked Column Example
I am going to spend the bulk of this post here, so let’s examine the way that I
have set up the data. The first row of the data contains the items that we want to
appear in the legend as the categories of our stacked columns.
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Chart in Excel
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The next few rows represent our the first
section of our first Stacked Clustered
data group.
This will be for Product 1 and we have 2
rows, 1 that represents the budgeted
advertising dollars and one that
represents the actual advertising dollars
for all 4 categories (radio, print, TV and
internet
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The biggest thing to remember here is that
we have created a Multi-level Category.
We have done this in Column A. Notice
that A3 has the Product name, but there is
nothing in A4. What this does is create a
grouping or Multi-level Category for the
chart for the first product.
Here is what it will look like in the final
chart:
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Notice how it creates a grouping for Product 1 and has subcategories
for the budget vs. actual numbers.
The next row appears to be a blank row. It is mostly blank except in 2
cells. In cell G5, I have put the value of the highest horizontal gridline
that I want to display in the graph.
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Also, in cell A5, I have put in a Space. Just a simple space with your
keyboard. I put a space in cell A5 so that the Multi-level Categories in
Excel will put a line from the chart to the bottom of the horizontal axis
labels.
Here it is with a space and without a space.
See how the grouping for Product 1 is tight around the budget and
actuals vs. on the right when it spans across the empty space? The
space is important to tell Excel where the first Multi-level Category
ends.
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Finally, the last area of the chart data range is our next advertising
expenditures grouping for Product 2
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2) Create Stacked Column Chart or Stacked Bar Chart
Now that you have set up your data, you can create your chart. Highlight the
range from A2:G7 and then choose the Stacked Column chart from the Column
button on the Insert ribbon.
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Your chart should now look like this:
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3) Switch Row/Column
Now our chart isn’t in the right format that we want. We wanted the
Product and Budget vs. Actual labels on the horizontal axis, not the
advertising groups. We can fix this by selecting the chart and then choose
the Switch Row/Column button from the Design ribbon.
If you don’t know why Excel is doing this, please check this post:
Why Does Excel Switch Rows/Columns in My Chart?
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After you have done this, your chart should now look like this:
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4) Change Column Gap Width
This is looking very close to what we
want.
Now lets make the groupings
appear more closely related.
We can do this by changing the Gap Width
from the Format Series Dialog Box.
You can get to these options by right
clicking on any data series in the chart and
then selecting “Format Data Series” from
the pop up menu.
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Then change the Gap Width from the Series Options to your desired
size. In this case, I am going to change the gap width to 25%.
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Here is what your chart should look like now:
This will make the clustered stacked columns move closer together so
that the data can be compared more easily.
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5) Change Vertical Axis
I don’t like the default vertical axis
maximum that Excel sets for us. I
would like to change it to
something that is closer to my
data.
Right click on the vertical axis and
then choose “Format Axis” from the
pop up menu.
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Then from the Format Axis dialog box in the Axis Options, change the
Minimum to 0 and the Maximum to 701 as you see here:
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Your resulting chart should now look like this:
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6) Change White Fill Series to a Color of White
We are almost done.
Now we added an additional series called
White Fill that will create even more
separation between the 2 different clustered
stacked column chart.
So to make it do this, we need to right click
on the White Fill column and choose the
“Format Data Series…” from the pop up
menu.
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Then, from the Format Data Series dialog box, go to the Fill options and then
change the Fill choice to Solid Fill and change the Fill Color to White.
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Your chart should now look like this:
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7) Remove the White Fill Label from the Legend
Looks great.
We are almost done. Only one last
thing to do. We need to remove the
“White Fill” legend entry.
We can do this pretty quick and easily
by first selecting the chart, then select
the legend and then finally selecting
the “White Fill” legend entry.
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Now it should look like this
Once you have the “White Fill” legend entry selected, simply press the delete key.
Your final chart will now look like this:
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This is how you can create a very simple and easy
Clustered Stacked Column Chart. Check the link below to
see this tutorial in action in a video demonstration.
Video Tutorial
If you would like to see a video demonstration of this
technique in Excel Chart building, please visit our YouTube
Channel at this link: http://youtu.be/ztphRTL_rAw
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