How to Overlay Data in Excel

Showing two different types of data on a single Excel chart - like revenue in dollars and profit margin as a percentage - can feel like trying to solve a puzzle. The good news is that Excel has a built-in feature designed for exactly this. This guide will walk you through how to overlay data in Excel, step-by-step, using a powerful tool called a combo chart.

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What Does It Mean to Overlay Data in Excel?

Overlaying data means combining two or more datasets onto one chart. Instead of creating two separate charts and placing them side by side, you display all the information on a single set of axes. This makes it much easier to compare trends, identify relationships, and spot correlations at a glance.

This technique is incredibly useful for business reporting. Common examples include:

• Comparing monthly sales revenue ($) to units sold (quantity).
• Visualizing website traffic (sessions) against marketing ad spend ($).
• Charting actual performance against a target or goal.
• Showing product price movements alongside sales volume.

The best way to achieve this in Excel is by creating what's called a “Combo Chart.” This type of chart allows you to use different chart types for different data series (like columns and a line) and even plot them against different scales using a secondary axis.

How to Create a Combo Chart to Overlay Data

Let's walk through an example. Imagine you want to see the relationship between your monthly revenue and the number of leads your marketing team generated. Revenue is a big number in dollars, and leads are a smaller whole number. Overlaying them is the perfect way to see if more leads translate to more revenue.

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Step 1: Get Your Data Ready

First, organize your data in a clear, simple table. Your first column should contain your labels (like dates or months), and the subsequent columns should contain the numeric data you want to plot. Make sure the data is clean and headers are descriptive.

Step 2: Insert a Combo Chart

With your data set up, creating the initial chart takes just a few clicks.

1. Click and drag your cursor to select the entire data range, including the headers (in our example, A1:C7).
2. Go to the Insert tab on the Excel ribbon.
3. In the "Charts" section, click on the small icon that looks like a combination of a column and line chart. This is the Insert Combo Chart icon.
4. From the dropdown menu, select Create Custom Combo Chart... at the bottom. This gives you the most control.

Step 3: Customize Your Chart Types and Axes

After clicking "Create Custom Combo Chart...", a new window will pop up. This is where the magic happens. Here, you’ll tell Excel how to display each data series and whether to use a secondary axis.

In the dialogue box, you will see each of your data series listed ("Revenue" and "Leads Generated"). For each one, you can choose a chart type and assign an axis.

• For the "Revenue" series: We want to show this as bars. Keep the "Chart Type" as Clustered Column. Don't check the "Secondary Axis" box for this one.
• For the "Leads Generated" series: We want to show this as a line overlaid on top of the bars. Change its "Chart Type" to Line. Now, check the Secondary Axis box next to it.

Why is the Secondary Axis so important? Look at your data values. Revenue is in the tens of thousands, while leads are only in the hundreds. If you plotted them on the same axis (the primary vertical axis on the left), the line for leads would be nearly flat and invisible against the tall revenue columns. The secondary axis creates a second vertical axis on the right side of the chart with its own scale, specifically for the "Leads" data. This ensures both datasets are visually distinct and easy to analyze.

Once you’ve configured these settings, click OK.

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Step 4: Format and Refine Your Chart

You now have a functional combo chart, but a little formatting goes a long way in making it clear and professional.

• Add a Chart Title: Click on the "Chart Title" placeholder and write something descriptive, like "Monthly Revenue vs. Leads Generated."
• Label Your Axes: Without labels, no one knows what the numbers on your axes mean.
• Adjust Colors and Styling: You can right-click on any element of the chart (the columns, the line, the background) to change its color, thickness, and style.

Here’s the finished product. It’s a clean, easy-to-understand visualization that clearly overlays two different metrics, making the relationship between them instantly obvious.

Practical Examples for Overlaying Data

A combo chart is versatile. You can apply this technique to almost any business scenario where you need to compare two different types of metrics.

Example 1: Actual vs. Target Sales Performance

A classic use case is comparing actual results to a goal. Plot your "Actual Sales" as columns and your "Target Sales" as a line. This creates a visual "hurdle" for your columns to clear each month, making it immediately clear where you’ve met or missed your targets. For this chart, you usually wouldn't use a secondary axis, as both series share the same unit (dollars).

Example 2: Website Sessions vs. Revenue

Do more website visitors lead to more money? To find out, you can chart "Website Sessions" (often a large number) as columns against "Revenue" as a line. Since both are measured on different scales (one is a count, one is currency), you'll need the secondary axis to make both visible and meaningful.

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Example 3: Revenue and Profit Margin (%)

It's crucial to know if your profitability keeps pace with revenue growth. Overlay "Revenue" in columns with "Profit Margin" (formatted as a percentage) as a line. Assigning the Profit Margin line to the secondary axis is essential here, as it allows you to compare dollar amounts to percentages on the same chart.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Overlaying data is powerful, but it's easy to create a chart that's more confusing than helpful. Here are a few common pitfalls to steer clear of.

• Forgetting the Secondary Axis: This is the most common mistake. If you’re overlaying data with different units (like dollars and percentages) or wildly different scales (like thousands vs. dozens), you must use a secondary axis for one of the data series. Otherwise, one series will look flat.
• Overcrowding the Chart: Resist the temptation to overlay five different metrics. A good rule of thumb is to stick to two or three data series. Any more than that and the chart quickly becomes cluttered and difficult to interpret. Less is almost always more.
• Using Mismatched Time Periods: Make sure the data you’re overlaying corresponds to the same periods. If you plot weekly traffic data over monthly sales data, the resulting chart won’t make sense because the x-axis points won’t align.
• Poor Labeling: Always add a chart title, axis titles, and a clear legend. A chart without labels is just a collection of shapes and colors, context is what turns it into a useful insight.

Final Thoughts

Mastering the combo chart in Excel is a fantastic skill that elevates your reporting from basic to insightful. By overlaying related but different datasets onto a single visual, you can tell a much more compelling story and uncover relationships that might otherwise be hidden in a table of numbers.

As you get comfortable with this, you may find that the biggest bottleneck isn't building the charts, but constantly gathering and prepping the data from all your different platforms. Instead of manually exporting CSVs from Google Analytics, Shopify, and your ad platforms, we built Graphed to do the heavy lifting for you. Simply connect your data sources once, and you can create live dashboards just by describing what you want to see - like "show me my revenue and ad spend from Facebook ads last month on a column and line chart."