How to Make Columns Wider in Excel Chart
Ever create a column chart in Excel and find the bars look a little... flimsy? You’ve got your data lined up perfectly, but the chart columns are so thin they look like sad, lonely toothpicks. This article will show you exactly how to make columns wider in an Excel chart to give your data the visual impact it deserves.
Why Widen Your Chart Columns? (It’s Not Just About Looks)
While skinny columns can simply look awkward, the issue goes beyond aesthetics. The goal of any chart is to communicate information quickly and clearly. Thin, spaced-out columns can sometimes make it harder to compare values and can diminish the perceived importance of your data.
By adjusting the column width, you can:
Improve Readability: Wider columns provide a larger canvas for color, making each data point more distinct and easier to process at a glance.
Create Visual Impact: Bolder, thicker columns draw the eye and make your chart feel more substantial and professional. They help your key takeaways pop, which is especially important in presentations.
Guide Your Audience's Focus: Adjusting the space between columns helps control how viewers compare one data series to another. Less empty space means the focus stays on the data itself.
Fixing this is incredibly simple, and there are a couple of ways to do it. Let’s get to it.
Method 1: Adjusting the "Gap Width" (The Easiest Fix)
This is the most common and direct method for adjusting column width in Excel. It controls the amount of empty space between the columns in the same data series. By reducing the space, you automatically increase the width of the columns.
Imagine you have a simple chart showing monthly sales from a marketing campaign. The columns might be a bit too narrow, but you can fix them using the Gap Width setting:
Step 1: Select Your Data Series
Click on any one of the columns in your chart. When you do this, you'll see small dots or squares appear at the corners of all the columns belonging to that same data series. This tells Excel that you want to format all of them at once.
Step 2: Open the 'Format Data Series' Pane
With the data series selected, right-click on one of the columns. A dropdown menu will appear. From this menu, select Format Data Series.... This will open a new panel on the right side of your Excel window.
Step 3: Locate the 'Gap Width' Setting
In the "Format Data Series" pane, you’ll see several icons at the top. Make sure the one that looks like a small chart (officially called "Series Options") is selected. Here, you will find a slider and a text box for Gap Width.
The "Gap Width" is presented as a percentage. This percentage represents the ratio of space between columns to the width of a single column. The default is often around 150% or 219%, which means the empty space between columns is 1.5 times (or more) the width of an actual column - no wonder they look so thin!
Step 4: Decrease the Gap Width Percentage
To make your columns wider, you need to reduce this percentage. You can do this in two ways:
Drag the slider: Click and drag the Gap Width slider to the left.
Type a number: Directly click into the percentage box and type a smaller number.
As you adjust this value, you'll see the columns in your chart change in real time. Let’s try setting it to something like 50%.
Your columns will immediately get wider and look much more visually appealing. A value between 30% and 80% is usually a good starting point for most charts. A value of 0% will make all the columns touch, which can be useful at times, such as when you’re showing a histogram distribution.
Think of it this way: less gap, more column. It’s that simple.
Method 2: Working with "Series Overlap" in Clustered Charts
What if you have a clustered column chart - one that compares two or more data series side-by-side for each category? Along with Gap Width, you get another powerful setting: Series Overlap.
Series Overlap controls the space between columns within the same category (e.g., the space between 'Projected' and 'Actual' sales columns for a single month). Here’s how to use Series Overlap:
How to Adjust Series Overlap:
Select one of the data series in your clustered chart (e.g., click on one of the sales bars).
Right-click and choose Format Data Series....
In the "Series Options" pane, you’ll find the Series Overlap slider right above the Gap Width slider.
This setting works slightly differently:
Negative Overlap (-100% to 0%): A negative percentage creates a gap between the columns within a cluster. The default is often a small negative number, causing a slight gap. The closer you get to -100%, the wider the space becomes.
Zero Overlap (0%): At 0%, the edges of the columns in the cluster will touch each other perfectly.
Positive Overlap (0% to 100%): A positive percentage makes the columns overlap, with one appearing slightly in front of the other. The closer you get to 100%, the more they will overlap.
To make your columns wider in a clustered chart, you often need to adjust both settings. Try this for a strong visual design:
Set the Series Overlap to 0% or a small positive number like 10% to make them touch or slightly overlap.
Set the Gap Width to a lower number like 80% to make the clusters thicker and reduce the space between months.
This combination will make your entire chart look more cohesive and easier to compare.
Tips for Making Your Excel Charts Look Great
Now that you know how to resize columns, here are a few extra tips for creating professional-looking reports:
Keep Colors Consistent: Use brand colors or a simple, clean color palette. Avoid the jarring default Excel colors if you can. A tool like Adobe Color can help you find complementary colors.
Remove Chart Junk: Does your chart really need those faint gridlines? A border? Chances are, it doesn't. Right-click on any element you don't need (like gridlines or the legend) and click 'Delete' to clean up your visualization.
Use Data Labels Wisely: Instead of making people cross-reference the y-axis, you can add data labels directly to the columns. Right-click your data series, click 'Add Data Labels,' and they will appear. Just be careful not to make the chart feel too cluttered.
Write Clear Titles: Your chart title should tell the whole story. Instead of "Monthly Sales," try something more descriptive like "Monthly Sales vs. Projections - Q1 2024." Your audience will thank you.
When to Use a Bar Chart: If your category names on the x-axis are long (e.g., "Northwest Regional Marketing Campaign"), a column chart can get very cramped. In this case, switching to a bar chart (which runs horizontally) is the better choice. It gives long labels plenty of room to breathe.
Final Thoughts
Mastering chart presentation details like column width is a simple way to take your Excel reports from amateur to professional. By using the Gap Width and Series Overlap settings, you gain complete control over how your data is visualized, making it more impactful and much easier to understand. These small tweaks make a big difference in how your work is perceived.
Of course, spending time fine-tuning chart settings in Excel is one of the many manual steps of reporting that can consume your week. Instead of right-clicking and endlessly adjusting formatting options, we built Graphed to do the heavy lifting for you. You can just connect your data sources (like Google Analytics, Shopify, or Salesforce) and use plain English prompts like "show me last month's sales by campaign as a column chart" to instantly generate insights. This way, you spend your time acting on your data, not just making it look presentable.