How to Graph Multiple Data Sets in Excel

Comparing two or more sets of data is essential for finding connections and telling a clear story about your business performance. Placing multiple data sets on a single Excel chart is one of the best ways to visualize these relationships, turning rows of numbers into intuitive visual insights. This guide will walk you through several practical methods to graph multiple data series in Excel, from simple comparisons to more complex combination charts.

First, Get Your Data Ready

Before you create any charts, structuring your data correctly will save you headaches later. For Excel to understand how to plot your information, it needs to be organized logically in a table.

Aim for a format where your shared data - typically a time series like dates, months, or quarters - is in the very first column. Each subsequent column should then contain a separate data set (or "series") that you want to plot against that shared data. Give each column a clear, descriptive header.

For example, to compare website sessions and online sales over time, your table should look like this:

Avoid merged cells, subtotals within your data, or empty rows, as these can confuse Excel's chart generator. A clean, simple table is the foundation for a great chart.

Method 1: Create a Combination Chart for Different Data Types

A "combo chart" is your best friend when visualizing data sets with vastly different scales or units, like comparing advertising spend (in thousands of dollars) with click-through rate (a small percentage). Plotting these on the same axis would make one of them look like a flat line. A combo chart fixes this by letting you use a secondary vertical axis.

Let's say you have data for Ad Spend ($) and Conversion Rate (%) for a series of campaigns.

1. Select Your Data: Highlight the entire data range, including the headers.
2. Go to Insert Chart: Navigate to the Insert tab on the Ribbon, find the Charts group, and click on Recommended Charts.
3. Choose the Combo Chart: A dialog box will appear. Click on the All Charts tab at the top. Near the bottom of the list on the left, select Combo.
4. Customize Your Series: Excel will automatically suggest a type (like Clustered Column) for each data series. This is where you customize it.
5. Click OK: Excel will generate a chart with columns representing your Ad Spend (read on the left Y-axis) and a line graph showing your Conversion Rate (read on the right Y-axis).

Now you can easily see if a higher ad spend actually corresponds with a better or worse conversion rate - an insight that was impossible to find by just looking at the raw numbers.

Method 2: Add a New Data Series to an Existing Chart

Sometimes you create a chart and later realize you need to add more data for comparison. For example, you might have a chart showing monthly sales for one product and want to add another product's sales to the same graph. You don’t need to start over.

1. Prepare Your New Data: Make sure the new data series (e.g., "Product B Sales") is in a column in your spreadsheet, aligning with the same primary column (e.g., "Month") as your original data.
2. Select the Chart: Click anywhere on your existing chart to activate the Chart Design tab in the Ribbon.
3. Click "Select Data": On the Chart Design tab, find and click the Select Data button. A dialog box will pop up showing the data sources for your current chart.
4. Add a New Series: In the left-hand panel titled “Legend Entries (Series),” click the Add button.
5. Define the Series: Another small window will appear called "Edit Series."
6. Confirm Your Selection: Click OK on the "Edit Series" window, and then OK again on the "Select Data Source" window. Your chart will instantly update to include the new data series, automatically giving it a different color and adding it to the legend.

This method is incredibly efficient for building up a complex report piece by piece or updating recurring quarterly performance charts.

Method 3: Plot Non-Adjacent Columns

What if the columns you want to graph aren't next to each other? For example, your spreadsheet might be organized as Date | Rep A Sales | Rep A Units Sold | Rep B Sales | Rep B Units Sold, and you only want to compare Rep A Sales and Rep B Sales against the Date.

Selecting them all at once would result in a messy chart including data you don't want. The trick here is using a keyboard shortcut to select only the data you need.

1. Select the First Column: Click and drag to highlight your shared X-axis data, including the header (e.g., the Date column).
2. Hold the CTRL or Command Key:
3. Select Additional Columns: While still holding down the key, click and drag to select the other columns of data you want on your chart. In our example, you'd select the Rep A Sales column, and then the Rep B Sales column. You will now have three non-adjacent columns highlighted.
4. Insert the Chart as Usual: While the columns are selected, go to the Insert tab and choose your preferred chart type (e.g., Line Chart). Excel will intelligently plot only the data you selected, using the first column as the horizontal axis.

Tips for Making Multi-Series Charts Easy to Read

A chart with too much information can become more confusing than the data itself. Follow these best practices to ensure your visual is clear and insightful.

Label Everything Clearly

A chart without labels is just decoration. Ensure your chart has a descriptive title, clear labels for both the X-axis and Y-axis (and the secondary Y-axis if you have one), and a visible legend so your audience knows what each line, bar, or point represents.

Choose the Right Chart Types

Some chart types play better together than others.

• Column + Line: This classic combination is great for comparing a volume metric (like Sales or Visitors) with a rate or trend metric (like Growth % or Conversion Rate).
• Stacked Column: Use this to show how different parts contribute to a whole over time. For example, stacking sales data from different regions to see how each impacts the total revenue each month.
• Multiple Lines: A line chart is perfect for comparing trends for several similar datasets over the same period, such as website traffic from Google, Facebook, and Instagram.

Be Smart With Colors and Formatting

Use colors that are distinct enough to be easily differentiated. If your brand has a specific color palette, use it to keep your reports looking professional and consistent. You can also use different formatting elements, like a solid line for one series and a dashed line for another, to improve readability, especially for black-and-white printing.

Final Thoughts

Visualizing multiple data sets in a single Excel chart moves your reporting from simple data presentation to powerful storytelling. Whether you're using a combo chart with a secondary axis for different data types, adding a new series to an existing graph, or plotting non-adjacent columns, the key is to organize your data first and then choose the chart that presents your insights most clearly.

While mastering these Excel techniques is a vital skill, we know this manual chart-building is often just one part of a bigger reporting task that can take hours. That's why we created Graphed: We automate the entire process by connecting directly to your marketing and sales platforms (like Google Analytics, Shopify, or Salesforce) so you can build dynamic, real-time dashboards just by asking questions. Instead of formatting axes and selecting data ranges, you can just ask, "Show me a chart comparing last month's ad spend from Facebook vs. Google against the sales revenue generated from each," and have it instantly. It frees up your time to focus on what the data actually means for your business.