How do I change the order of data in an Excel chart?
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“Ann, my bar chart is upside down! Help!” Show
You read my prior post about using horizontal bar charts for nominal variables like favorite fruits. My toddler is eating two! bananas a day so bananas are the winner in this fictional fruit contest. Our original table is ordered alphabetically and that just won’t do. Our viewers will either want to know about the favorite fruit (a greatest to least ordering) or they’ll want to know about the least favorite fruit (a least to greatest ordering).  How to Re-Sort Your Bar Charts in Microsoft ExcelYou’ve got two options for re-sorting your bar chart. Option A: Re-Sort the TableOption A is to re-sort your table. If you’re not working in spreadsheets all the time, you may not have discovered sorting and filtering features before. Here’s how you can sort data tables in Microsoft Excel:
Well, that would be the logical approach. A largest to smallest sorting should produce a largest to smallest chart, right? Right? Right? But the chart does a somersault! Here’s where Option A comes in. You anticipate that your chart is going to do a somersault and sort your table the opposite of what you want to appear in your chart. Option B: Re-Sort the Bars within the ChartOption B, my preferred method, is to leave your table alone. I like my tables to match my charts–largest to smallest tables with largest to smallest graphs. It keeps me organized so that I don’t have to do mental somersaults every time I look at my screen. Here’s how you can re-sort the bars within your Microsoft Excel charts:
Your TurnComment and let me know: Which method do you prefer, and why? Do you prefer Option A, in which you anticipate that the table will do a somersault, and you sort the table upside down? Or do you prefer Option B, in which you use the Categories in Reverse Order button to sort the bar chart itself? Bonus: Download the SpreadsheetWant to practice sorting your table and/or sorting the bar chart? Download the spreadsheet I used in this blog post.
More about Ann K. Emery
The inserted data series of a chart are in the same order as the order of the original data based on column in default. Now this tutorial tell you how to reorder the chart series in Excel. Reorder chart series Office Tab Enable Tabbed Editing and Browsing in Office, and Make Your Work Much Easier... Kutools for Excel Solves Most of Your Problems, and Increases Your Productivity by 80%
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