Side-by-side bar chart
 

Hello.

I'm using Excel 2007.

The goal: I want to build a bar chart that has two bars for each value (one
is volume, the other is effectiveness).

Category Effectiveness Volume
A 11.4% 398241
B 10.2% 364633
C 6.9% 49214
D 12.4% 32790
E 15.4% 14148


The problem: I can get the two data sets added with each value (volume on
the primary axis and effectiveness on the secondary axis). But... Excel
tries to stack the the two bars by default... I need them side by side.

I can't figure out how to get them side by side. Any help is appreciated.

--
Jeff

Answer: Side-by-side bar chart
 

Hi Jeff,

To create a side-by-side bar chart in Excel 2007, you can follow these steps:

1. Select the data range (including the category column) and go to the Insert tab on the ribbon.
2. Click on the Bar chart button and select the 2-D Clustered Bar chart type.
3. Excel will create a stacked bar chart by default. Right-click on any of the bars and select Format Data Series.
4. In the Format Data Series pane, go to the Series Options tab and change the Series Overlap to 0% and the Gap Width to a desired value (e.g. 50%).
5. Click on the Fill & Line tab and choose a different color for each data series (volume and effectiveness).
6. Close the Format Data Series pane and you should now have a side-by-side bar chart.

Side-by-side bar chart
 

Excel doesn't stack them, it just draws one series in front of the other.
You need to add a couple invisible series to offset the visible ones:

http://peltiertech.com/Excel/Charts/...OnTwoAxes.html

- Jon
-------
Jon Peltier, Microsoft Excel MVP
Tutorials and Custom Solutions
http://PeltierTech.com
_______


"Jeff Reese" wrote in message
...
Hello.

I'm using Excel 2007.

The goal: I want to build a bar chart that has two bars for each value
(one
is volume, the other is effectiveness).

Category Effectiveness Volume
A 11.4% 398241
B 10.2% 364633
C 6.9% 49214
D 12.4% 32790
E 15.4% 14148


The problem: I can get the two data sets added with each value (volume on
the primary axis and effectiveness on the secondary axis). But... Excel
tries to stack the the two bars by default... I need them side by side.

I can't figure out how to get them side by side. Any help is appreciated.

--
Jeff

Side-by-side bar chart
 

You need a column chart with two y-axes. And this is where Excel fails you.
See
http://peltiertech.com/Excel/Charts/...OnTwoAxes.html
Jon show how to do it with Xl2003 (or earlier) but I'm sure you can follow
along in XL2007
best wishes
--
Bernard Liengme
www.stfx.ca/people/bliengme
remove CAPS in email address


"Jeff Reese" wrote in message
...
Hello.

I'm using Excel 2007.

The goal: I want to build a bar chart that has two bars for each value
(one
is volume, the other is effectiveness).

Category Effectiveness Volume
A 11.4% 398241
B 10.2% 364633
C 6.9% 49214
D 12.4% 32790
E 15.4% 14148


The problem: I can get the two data sets added with each value (volume on
the primary axis and effectiveness on the secondary axis). But... Excel
tries to stack the the two bars by default... I need them side by side.

I can't figure out how to get them side by side. Any help is appreciated.

--
Jeff