How to Create a Chart Template in Excel

Let’s face it, recreating the same chart styles in Excel over and over is a soul-crushing task. You spend ages getting the brand colors just right, tweaking the font sizes, and adjusting the axes, only to have to do it all again for next week's report. We've all been there, and it's a huge waste of time. This tutorial will walk you through creating, saving, and using Excel chart templates to end that cycle for good.

Why Bother with Excel Chart Templates?

Before we get into the "how," let's quickly cover the "why." You might be thinking, "Is it really worth the effort to set up a template?" If you create reports regularly, the answer is a resounding yes. A chart template isn't just about saving a pretty design, it’s a powerful productivity tool.

Here are the three main benefits of using them:

• Consistency: Templates ensure that every chart you produce adheres to the same brand guidelines. Whether you’re creating a sales report, a marketing dashboard, or a presentation for stakeholders, your visuals will have a professional, unified look and feel. No more accidentally using the wrong shade of blue.

• Efficiency: This is the big one. Imagine creating a perfectly formatted, multi-series line chart in two clicks instead of twenty. Templates store all your customizations - colors, fonts, line styles, data labels, legend placement, and more. This automation turns a ten-minute formatting job into a ten-second one.

• Accuracy and Reduced Errors: When you’re manually formatting charts under pressure, it's easy to make mistakes. You might forget to label an axis or use the wrong number format. A template applies your pre-approved settings every time, minimizing the chance of human error and letting you focus on the story your data is telling.

Step 1: Create and Customize Your Master Chart

The first step is to create a single, perfect chart that will serve as the foundation for your template. Think of this as your "master" or "golden" version. You only have to do this part once, so it's worth taking the time to get every detail right.

Start with Some Sample Data

To build a chart, you need some data. The actual numbers don't matter too much, but the structure should be similar to what you'll typically be visualizing. For this example, let's use some simple monthly website traffic data.

Imagine a small table in your Excel sheet like this:

Once you have your data ready:

1. Select your entire data range, including the headers.

2. Go to the Insert tab on the Excel ribbon.

3. In the Charts section, choose a chart type. A Combo Chart (line/column) is a great choice for this kind of data. Let's make Pageviews a column and Sessions/New Users as lines.

Excel will instantly drop a default, uninspiring chart onto your worksheet. Now for the fun part: making it your own.

Apply Your Custom Formatting

This is where you infuse your brand and style into the chart. Click on various elements of the chart to select them, then right-click to find the "Format" option or use the Format tab that appears on the ribbon.

Here’s a checklist of common formatting tweaks:

• Chart and Plot Area:

  • Right-click on the chart's background and select Format Chart Area.

  • You can change the fill to a solid color (or leave it as none), and add or remove the border. I recommend removing the border for a cleaner, modern look.

• Data Series (Columns, Lines, etc.):

  • Click on a data series (like the blue columns for Pageviews) to select it. Right-click and choose Format Data Series.

  • Under the paint bucket icon (Fill & Line), you can change the color to match your company's branding. Did you know you can enter specific HEX or RGB color codes for a perfect match? Do this for each data series.

  • For line charts, you can also change the line thickness, style (like dashed or dotted), and marker shape/size.

• Text Elements (Titles, Labels, and Legend):

  • Click on the chart title and type in a descriptive placeholder, like "[Monthly Performance Report]".

  • Select the title, axis labels, and legend. Use the Home tab to change the font, size, weight (bold), and color to match your brand standards. A dark gray is often easier on the eyes than pure black.

• Axes:

  • Right-click an axis and choose Format Axis. Here, you can change the number formatting (e.g., add a comma separator for thousands, set it to currency, or remove decimal places).

  • You can also adjust the minimum and maximum bounds if your data always falls within a specific range.

• Gridlines and Other Elements:

  • Many people find heavy gridlines distracting. Click on them and press the Delete key to remove them for a minimalist feel. Or, you can make them a very light gray so they are less prominent.

  • Click the small "+" icon next to your chart to easily add or remove elements like a legend, data labels, or a data table.

Keep tweaking until the chart looks exactly how you want your reports to look every time. This is your ideal state.

Step 2: Save Your Masterpiece as a Template

Once you're satisfied with your masterpiece, it's time to save it as a template. This process is surprisingly simple but hidden in plain sight.

1. Make sure your newly designed chart is selected.

2. Right-click anywhere in the main chart area (but not on a specific element like a data bar or the title).

3. From the context menu, choose Save as Template...

An explorer window will pop up, taking you directly to the default folder where Excel stores chart templates. Now, this is important: give your template a clear, descriptive name.

• Avoid: Chart1.crxt

• Instead, use: Monthly_Marketing_Traffic_Combo_Chart.crxt or Brand_Column_Chart_V1.crxt

A good name helps you remember what the template is intended for, especially after you've created several. Hit Save, and you're done. You've officially created a reusable chart template.

Step 3: Applying Your Saved Chart Template

Now comes the payoff. All that upfront work is about to save you a ton of time. Let's say it's next month, and you have a new set of data you need to visualize.

Applying the Template to New Data

1. Start with your new, unformatted data. Select the entire range, just like before.

2. Go to the Insert tab, and in the Charts section, click on Recommended Charts.

3. A window will appear. Click on the All Charts tab at the top.

4. In the navigation pane on the left, you'll see a folder called Templates. Click on it.

5. Your saved templates will appear as selectable icons. Click the one you just created (e.g., Monthly_Marketing_Traffic_Combo_Chart) and click OK.

Boom! Excel will instantly create a chart using your new data but formatted with all the custom styles you saved in your template. All your brand colors, font choices, and layout preferences are applied in an instant.

Changing an Existing Chart's Style

What if you already have a chart, but it's using Excel's ugly default formatting? You can apply your template to it, too.

1. Select the existing, unformatted chart.

2. Go to the Chart Design tab on the ribbon.

3. Click on Change Chart Type.

4. Go to the Templates folder, select your custom template, and click OK.

The existing chart will immediately update to match your template's design.

Managing and Sharing Your Excel Chart Templates

Your templates are saved as .crxt files on your computer in a specific folder. If you need to delete an old template or, more importantly, share one with your team, you'll need to know where to find this folder.

The location is typically:

• Windows: C:\Users\[YourUsername]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates\Charts

• Mac: /Users/[YourUsername]/Library/Application Support/Microsoft/Office/Chart Templates/

To share a template with a coworker, simply navigate to that folder, find your .crxt file, and email it or send it via chat. For your coworker to use it, they just need to save that file into the same Chart Templates folder on their own machine. This is a game-changer for maintaining brand consistency across a whole team.

Final Thoughts

Creating chart templates in Excel is a classic example of investing a little time upfront to save a huge amount of effort down the road. You can now stop wasting mental energy on repetitive formatting tasks and focus on analyzing your data and delivering clear, professional reports that look fantastic every single time.

While Excel templates solve the formatting headache, they don't solve the data-wrangling that comes before it, like logging into ten different platforms and downloading CSVs. That manual reporting process is exactly what we built to be better. With Graphed , we connect directly to your marketing and sales tools - like Google Analytics, Shopify, and Facebook Ads - so your dashboards are always live and update automatically. You can build comprehensive, multi-platform reports just by describing what you want in plain English, getting back hours of your week.