How to Combine Two Charts in Excel

Creating a chart in Excel is simple, but combining two different chart types into a single, cohesive visual can tell a much richer story. This article guides you step-by-step through creating a combination chart to compare different types of data, like tracking monthly sales revenue alongside the number of units sold.

Why Combine Two Charts in Excel?

A standard bar or line chart is great for showing one type of data, but what happens when you need to compare two different kinds of metrics at the same time? For example, you might want to see how your website traffic (measured in thousands of visits) impacts your conversion rate (measured as a percentage).

If you plot both on a standard chart, the numbers with a smaller scale (like a 2% conversion rate) would look like a flat line next to the numbers with a large scale (like 50,000 website visits). It would be almost impossible to see any relationship or trend.

Combining charts, often called creating a "combo chart," solves this problem. It allows you to:

• Compare Data with Different Scales: Plot large numbers (like revenue) on one axis and small numbers (like percentages or unit counts) on a secondary axis so both are clearly visible.
• Highlight Relationships: Easily spot connections between different metrics. For example, did a spike in ad spend (bar chart) lead to a proportional increase in website conversions (line chart)?
• Save Dashboard Space: Instead of having two separate charts taking up valuable screen real estate, you can convey the same information in a single, efficient visual.

Essentially, a combo chart lets you tell a more detailed and insightful story without cluttering your report. The most common combination is a column chart with a line chart, but Excel allows for several different pairings.

Preparing Your Data for a Combo Chart

Before you build the chart, make sure your data is structured properly in your spreadsheet. A clean setup is the foundation of a good chart.

Your data should be organized in columns. Typically, the first column will be your labels (like dates, months, or campaign names). The subsequent columns will be the different data series you want to plot. For our first example, we'll look at monthly sales data:

Your table should look something like this:

Notice how revenue is in the tens of thousands, while units sold are in the hundreds. This is a perfect scenario for a combo chart with a secondary axis.

Method 1: Create a Basic Chart and Then Change the Series Type

This is the most common and flexible method for creating a combo chart. You start by making a simple chart and then modify one of the data series within it.

Step 1: Create a Standard Chart

First, highlight your entire data range, including the headers (in our example, a cell from A1 to C7).

1. Click the Insert tab on the Excel ribbon.
2. In the Charts section, choose a basic chart type. A 2-D Clustered Column chart is a great starting point.

Excel will generate a chart showing both "Revenue ($)" and "Units Sold" as columns. You'll immediately notice the problem we discussed earlier: the "Units Sold" columns are tiny compared to the "Revenue" columns, making them difficult to read.

Step 2: Change a Series Chart Type

Now, let's change the "Units Sold" series into a different chart type, like a line, to distinguish it visually.

1. Right-click directly on one of the columns representing "Units Sold" (the smaller ones).
2. From the context menu that appears, select Change Series Chart Type...

Step 3: Configure the Combo Chart and Add a Secondary Axis

This action opens the "Change Chart Type" dialog box. You'll see a 'Combo' category automatically selected at the bottom.

Here you can customize each data series independently:

1. Find the "Units Sold" series.
2. Click the dropdown menu next to it and change its chart type from "Clustered Column" to Line. You'll see a live preview of this change in the small window at the top.
3. This is the most important step: to fix the scale issue, check the box under the Secondary Axis column for the "Units Sold" series.

Once you check this box, you'll see a new vertical axis appear on the right side of the chart preview, scaled appropriately for the "Units Sold" data. The line chart will instantly rescale and become clearly visible.

Click OK to apply your changes.

You now have a beautiful combo chart! The columns represent revenue, corresponding to the primary vertical axis on the left. The line represents the units sold, corresponding to the secondary vertical axis on the right.

Method 2: Using the "Recommended Charts" Feature

If you're using a modern version of Excel, it's pretty smart at guessing what you want to do. You can create a combo chart directly without making a column chart first.

1. Select your data range, including headers.
2. Go to the Insert tab.
3. Click on Recommended Charts.
4. A dialog box will pop up. Click on the All Charts tab at the top.
5. From the list on the left, select Combo at the very bottom.
6. Excel provides a few default combo chart layouts. The "Clustered Column - Line on Secondary Axis" is usually what you need. Select it.
7. You can still customize which series gets which chart type and which one uses the secondary axis, just like in the previous method.
8. Click OK when you're happy with the preview.

This method gets you to the same end result, but it can be a bit quicker as Excel anticipates your goal from the beginning.

Best Practices for Combo Charts

Creating the chart is just the first step. To make it truly effective, you need to format it for clarity.

• Label Your Axes Clearly: This is a non-negotiable for combo charts. Since you have two different Y-axes (left and right), you must give them descriptive titles. Click the "+" icon next to the chart, check "Axis Titles," and then type in appropriate labels like "Sales Revenue ($)" for the left axis and "Total Units Sold" for the right. Without these, your audience won't know which scale applies to which data series.
• Use Contrasting Colors: Make your columns and line distinct. A blue bar and an orange line, for example, are easy to differentiate. Avoid using similar shades that might blend together.
• Don't Overcrowd the Chart: While it's powerful, don't try to combine three or four different chart types. A combo chart is most effective with two series and two chart formats. Adding more makes it cluttered and defeats the purpose of providing a clear insight.
• Choose the Right Charts to Combine: Column and line charts are a classic pairing. Bar charts and line charts also work well. But trying to combine something like a pie chart and a line chart doesn't really scale or make sense visually. Stick to combinations that display trends over a category or time.

A Real-World Marketing Example

Let's say you're a marketing manager analyzing your monthly campaign performance. You want to see how your Ad Spend relates to the number of leads generated.

Your data looks like this:

Here, Ad Spend is in thousands and Leads are in hundreds. By plotting Ad Spend as a column chart (left axis) and Leads Generated as a line chart (right axis), you can immediately see if a bigger budget in March and April resulted in a corresponding jump in leads - helping you justify your marketing investments.

Final Thoughts

Combining charts in Excel is a straightforward technique that dramatically enhances your ability to visualize relationships between different data sets. By assigning one data series to a secondary axis, you can clearly present metrics with wildly different scales, turning a confusing visual into a compelling and insightful story.

While Excel is great for these one-off analyses, we know the real challenge often lies in pulling all this data together in the first place. Manually downloading CSVs from Google Analytics, Facebook Ads, Shopify, and your CRM just to build these charts is tedious. We built Graphed to automate that entire process. You can connect your data sources once, then just ask in plain English for the chart you want - including combo charts - and Graphed creates a live, auto-updating dashboard for you in seconds.