Use area charts in Sheets

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Use area charts in Sheets

3 min read

I. Intro

Line charts and area charts can be used to illustrate trends and changes over time. Unlike line charts, the space between lines and the x-axis is colored in area charts, which helps to highlight the differences between the variables.

II. Steps

This article is about area charts. For details on using charts in general, see Create and edit charts.

1. Examples

	Data	Chart
Area chart	250px\|700px\|reset	250px\|700px\|reset
Stacked area chart	250px\|700px\|reset	250px\|700px\|reset
100% stacked area chart	250px\|700px\|reset	250px\|700px\|reset

2. Select data source

Row/column 1: If the data type is text or date, the first row/column will be automatically set as the category (x-axis) or series name (y-axis).

Other rows/columns: The values to be included in the chart. The data type should be number.

Note: The labels for the x- and y-axes will be automatically determined based on the number of rows and columns. To switch the x- and y-axes, click Switch rows/columns.

	Text 4	Text 5	Text 6
Text 1	1	2	0
Text 2	2	5	4
Text 3	2	6	9

Here's what the data looks like in different types of area charts.

Area chart	Stacked area chart	100% stacked area chart
250px\|700px\|reset	250px\|700px\|reset	250px\|700px\|reset
Only displays the absolute values of the data series, which is a good way to contrast the differences between data.	The separate values are stacked upon one another with the top line representing the sum of all data series. It displays both absolute and proportional values, which helps to illustrate the relative weight of each series.	Displays each data series as a proportion of the whole, with a cumulative area that adds up to 100%, useful for showing proportional trend changes.

3. Change chart style

Description	Image
Basic chart settings: Under Setup, you can change the Chart type and configure Themes. Under Options, you can configure the basic chart settings, such as whether to display the Chart title or Legend.	250px\|700px\|reset
Configure the data range: Go to Setup > Range to change the range of the x- and y-axes. You can also select Aggregate to aggregate data from the same category, and click Switch rows/columns as required.	250px\|700px\|reset
Adjust how blank values are displayed: Use this if you have blank cells in your data. Go to Setup > Advanced settings > Show empty cells as and select an option.	250px\|700px\|reset
Customize the chart: Under Customize, you can change the background, font, and chart and axis titles.	250px\|700px\|reset
In Customize > Format you can customize the fill and line color, as well as opacity, which ranges from 10% to 100%.	250px\|700px\|reset

III. FAQs

How do I customize a data series?

Go to Customize > Series and select a series to customize it.

250px|700px|reset

How do I adjust a data point?

Go to Customize > Series, select All series, and click Add data point below. Select the data point you need to customize and customization options will appear below.

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