How to Change Color of Bar Graph in Google Sheets

Getting the colors on your Google Sheets bar graph to look just right can feel surprisingly tricky. You've done the hard part of organizing your data, but now your chart is stuck with the default blue that doesn't match your brand or highlight the insights you need. This guide will walk you through everything from changing the color of a single bar to creating dynamic colors that update automatically based on your data.

Why Customizing Bar Graph Colors Matters

Before jumping into the how-to, let’s quickly touch on why this small detail is so important. A thoughtfully colored chart isn't just about aesthetics, it’s about clear communication. The right colors can:

• Improve Readability: Using contrasting colors helps differentiate data series, making your chart easier to understand at a glance.
• Highlight Key Data: Want to draw attention to your top-performing month or an underperforming region? A distinct color on a single bar instantly guides your audience's focus.
• Reinforce Branding: Using your company's brand colors in reports and dashboards creates a professional, consistent look that strengthens brand identity.
• Tell a Story: Colors can evoke meaning. For example, using shades of green for positive growth and red for decline can convey a message without needing extra labels.

The Basics: Changing All Bars in a Series

Let's start with the most common scenario: you have a simple bar chart with one data series, and you want to change it from the default blue to something else. This is the simplest color change you can make.

1. First, make sure your chart is created and selected. If you haven’t made one yet, select your data, go to Insert > Chart, and choose a bar or column chart format.
2. Double-click anywhere on the chart to open the Chart editor pane on the right side of your screen.
3. In the editor, navigate to the Customize tab.
4. Click on the Series dropdown section. This is where you control the appearance of your data series (the bars, in this case).
5. You should see your data series listed. Under "Format," you'll find a color swatch next to the series name. Click on it.
6. A color palette will appear. You can pick a new color from the default options or use the "Custom" tool to add a specific hex code for your brand colors.

That's it! All the bars in that series will now be updated to your chosen color.

How to Change the Color of a Single Bar

One of the most powerful ways to tell a story with data is to highlight a single data point. Maybe it’s a record sales month, the launch of a new campaign, or an outlier you want to discuss. Making just one bar a different color instantly draws the eye.

The trick here is the double-click.

1. First, single-click once on any of the bars in your chart. You'll see that all the bars in the series are selected.
2. Now, without moving your mouse, click a second time on the specific bar you want to change. You will see that only that individual bar remains selected.
3. With only that single bar selected, look at the Chart editor on the right. The "Series" section will now be replaced by a "Format data point" section.
4. You'll see a color picker right there. Click on it and choose a new, high-contrast color.

Your selected bar will now stand out from the rest. This simple technique is incredibly effective for presentations and reports where you need to direct your audience's attention to a specific insight.

Pro Tip: Resetting a Single Bar Color

Changed your mind? To revert a single bar back to the series' default color, follow the same steps to select it. In the "Format data point" menu, you'll see a "Reset" button next to the color settings. Clicking this will remove the individual formatting and match it to the rest of the series again.

Advanced Trick: Conditional Coloring Based on Value

What if you want your bar chart to color itself automatically? For example, perhaps you want all bars that exceed a certain target to be green, and all those that fall short to be red. Google Sheets doesn't have a direct "conditional formatting" button for chart colors, but you can achieve this effect with a clever restructuring of your data.

The core idea is to split your single data series into multiple series, one for each color condition you want. Here's how to do it.

Step 1: Restructure Your Data with IF Formulas

Let's say your original data is in columns A (Month) and B (Sales). Our goal is to color bars green if sales are over $10,000 and orange if they are not.

1. In column C, create a header called "Sales Above Target." In cell C2, enter this formula:
2. In column D, create a header called "Sales Below Target." In cell D2, enter this formula:
3. Drag both formulas down to apply them to all your data rows.

So what’s happening here? The formulas check the value in the "Sales" column. If the condition is met, it places the sales value in the new column. If not, it returns #N/A. This is important because Google Sheets ignores #N/A values when plotting a chart, which prevents it from creating zero-value bars.

Your data should now look like this:

Step 2: Create a Stacked Bar Chart

Now, we create the chart from this new data structure.

1. Select your data from columns A to D, including headers.
2. Go to Insert > Chart.
3. Google Sheets will probably default to a stacked bar chart, which is exactly what we want. If it doesn't, go to the Chart editor > Setup and change the chart type to a Stacked column chart or Stacked bar chart.

You'll see what looks like a normal bar chart. But behind the scenes, each bar is actually a "stack" of one colored segment and one invisible #N/A segment. Since only one condition can be true for each month, each bar only shows one color.

Step 3: Customize Your Colors

Now, you just need to assign the colors you want for each condition.

1. Double-click the chart to open the Chart editor.
2. Go to the Customize > Series section.
3. You'll now see two series: "Sales Above Target" and "Sales Below Target."
4. Select "Sales Above Target" and change its color to green.
5. Select "Sales Below Target" and change its color to orange (or red).

Your bar chart is now dynamically colored! If you change a sales number in column B and it crosses the $10,000 threshold, the color of its bar will automatically update in the chart.

Final Thoughts

Customizing colors in your Google Sheets bar graphs goes beyond simple decoration, it’s a fundamental tool for making your data clear, insightful, and actionable. By mastering how to change colors for a whole series, a single bar, or even conditionally based on your data, you can transform a bland chart into a powerful storytelling device.

While mastering these tricks in Google Sheets is rewarding, it still involves manual setup and wrestling with formulas. At Graphed, we felt this process should be much simpler. We built a tool that lets you connect your data sources (like Google Analytics, Shopify, or even a Google Sheet) and build dashboards by just describing what you want to see. Instead of creating helper columns and reconfiguring charts, you can just ask, "Show me monthly sales, and highlight any month over $10,000 in green," and get a live, interactive dashboard in seconds, automatically.