How to Plot Data in Google Sheets

Turning rows of numbers into a clear, compelling chart is one of the fastest ways to find meaning in your data. It helps you spot trends, compare performance, and tell a story that raw numbers alone can't convey. This guide will walk you through exactly how to plot data in Google Sheets, covering everything from organizing your information to customizing beautiful, easy-to-read charts.

Why Visualize Data in Google Sheets?

Before jumping into the how-to, let's quickly touch on the "why." Plotting your data helps turn abstract numbers into tangible insights. Instead of staring at a spreadsheet column full of sales figures, you can see the upward trend of the past six months in a simple line chart. It's a powerful and free tool that's likely already part of your workflow.

• Clarity: Visuals are easier for our brains to process than text and numbers. Charts instantly reveal outliers, patterns, and trends that might be hidden in a table.
• Comparison: A bar chart makes it obvious which marketing channel is bringing in the most leads or which product is your top seller.
• Storytelling: Charts help you communicate your findings to others. Showing a chart of growing website traffic in a meeting is much more impactful than reading off monthly numbers.

Preparing Your Data for Plotting

The secret to a great chart starts before you even click "Insert." Clean, well-organized data is the foundation of any effective visualization. A little prep work here will save you a lot of headaches later.

Organize Your Data in Columns

Google Sheets charts work best when your data is structured in a clear, logical format. Typically, this means:

• Your first row should be your headers (e.g., 'Month', 'Website Visitors', 'Sales Revenue').
• Your first column should contain your labels, which are often time periods (dates, months) or categories (product names, marketing channels).
• Subsequent columns should contain the numeric values you want to plot.

Here’s a good example setup:

Keep It Simple and Clean

Merged cells, extra text, and inconsistent formatting can confuse Google Sheets and lead to plotting errors. Before creating your chart, do a quick sanity check:

• No Merged Cells: Ensure the data you want to plot doesn't have any merged cells.
• Consistent Formatting: Make sure your dates are all formatted as dates and your numbers are formatted as numbers or currency.
• One Idea Per Table: Try not to cram too much unrelated information into one data table. It's better to have separate, clean tables for separate chart ideas.

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Chart

Once your data is organized, creating a chart is a straightforward process. Let's walk through it step-by-step.

Step 1: Select Your Data

Click and drag your mouse to highlight the cells containing the data you want to plot. Make sure to include the header row and the first column of labels. This helps Google Sheets automatically label your chart's axes and legend.

Step 2: Insert the Chart

With your data selected, navigate to the menu at the top of the screen and click Insert > Chart. Google Sheets will automatically insert a chart onto your worksheet. It will also open the Chart editor pane on the right-hand side of your screen. Google Sheets does its best to guess which chart type is most appropriate for your data, but you can easily change it.

Step 3: Choose the Right Chart Type

The default suggestion might not always be the best choice for telling your story. In the 'Setup' tab of the Chart editor, you'll see a dropdown menu for 'Chart type'. Choosing the right one is crucial for making your data understandable.

Line Charts

Use When: You want to show a trend over a continuous period of time, like days, months, or years. Example: Tracking monthly website traffic, daily stock prices, or quarterly sales growth. Line charts are perfect for illustrating progress and identifying patterns over time.

Bar and Column Charts

Use When: You need to compare distinct categories against each other. Column charts (vertical bars) are the most common, while bar charts (horizontal bars) work well when you have long category labels. Example: Comparing sales performance across different products, traffic from various social media channels, or survey responses by age group.

Pie Charts

Use When: You want to show the composition of a single whole - how individual parts make up a total. Example: Displaying the percentage of traffic from different sources (Organic, social media, paid) or a breakdown of a marketing budget. Be careful not to use pie charts with too many categories, as they can become difficult to read. Five or six slices is usually a good maximum.

Scatter Plots

Use When: You want to see the relationship or correlation between two different numeric variables. Example: Plotting advertising spend versus revenue to see if more spending leads to more sales, or comparing a student’s hours spent studying with their final exam score.

Step 4: Customize Your Chart with the Chart Editor

A default chart gets the job done, but customization turns it into a professional, clear communication tool. The Chart editor is split into a 'Setup' and a 'Customize' tab.

The 'Setup' Tab

This is where you'll make high-level adjustments to your chart's data:

• Chart type: Change the chart type as we discussed above.
• Data range: Adjust the selected cells if you made a mistake or want to add more data.
• X-axis: Specify which column should be your horizontal axis (e.g., your 'Month' column).
• Series: Designate which column(s) should be plotted as the values on the vertical axis (your 'Sales' or 'Ad Spend' columns). If you have multiple data series on one chart, you can manage them here.

The 'Customize' Tab

This tab lets you fine-tune the look and feel of your chart for maximum clarity and visual appeal.

• Chart style: Change the background color, font, and chart border. A simple white background is almost always the cleanest option.
• Chart & axis titles: This is a non-negotiable step. Always give your chart a clear, descriptive title. Also, label your horizontal and vertical axes so your audience knows exactly what they're looking at (e.g., "Sales Revenue ($)" and "Month").
• Series: Change the color of your bars, lines, or pie slices. You can add data labels to show the exact value for each point, format the line thickness, or change the style of points on a line chart.
• Legend: Adjust the position of the chart legend (top, bottom, right) or change its font.
• Gridlines and ticks: Add or remove major and minor gridlines to make the chart easier to read. You can also adjust the scale of your axes here.

Practical Example: Plotting Monthly Sales Data

Let's put it all together. Imagine you have the following data for e-commerce sales:

1. Select the data: Highlight all the cells from A1 to B7.
2. Insert Chart: Go to Insert > Chart. Google Sheets will likely suggest a line chart, which is a perfect choice for this time-series data.
3. Customize the Title: In the 'Customize' tab, under 'Chart & axis titles', change the chart title to "Monthly Sales Performance (First Half)."
4. Label the Y-Axis: Change the 'Vertical axis title' to "Sales Revenue ($)." The X-axis is likely already correctly labeled as "Month" from your header.
5. Adjust the Series Color: Under 'Series', click on the 'Sales Revenue' series and change its color to a brand-aligned blue. You can also add data labels to show the specific sales figure for each month.

In just a few clicks, you’ve transformed a simple table into an insightful visual that clearly shows a strong upward trend in sales.

Final Thoughts

Google Sheets offers a powerful and accessible way for anyone to turn raw data into meaningful visualizations. By starting with clean data, choosing the right chart type, and dedicating a few moments to clear labeling and customization, you can create plots that reveal insights and effectively communicate your findings.

While creating charts in Google Sheets is a great start, the process can become repetitive when you're manually pulling data from multiple platforms like Google Analytics, Shopify, and your ad accounts every week. That's where we built Graphed to help. We connect directly to all your data sources, allowing you to ask for a chart in plain English like, "Show me a line chart of Shopify revenue over the last 90 days." Graphed instantly builds a real-time, interactive chart for you, so you can spend less time wrangling spreadsheets and more time acting on insights.