How to Make a Bar Graph in Google Sheets

A bar graph is one of the simplest yet most effective ways to show how different categories of data stack up against each other. If you've got data in Google Sheets, you can turn it into a clear, professional-looking bar graph in just a few clicks. This article will walk you through a step-by-step guide to making bar graphs, customizing them for maximum impact, and avoiding a handful of common pitfalls.

When Should You Use a Bar Graph?

Before you build your chart, it's worth taking a second to make sure a bar graph is the right choice for your data. Bar graphs are perfect for comparing distinct categories.

Their strength lies in visually representing "how much" or "how many" for different groups. For example:

• Tracking website traffic from different sources (e.g., Google, Facebook, Twitter).
• Comparing sales figures across different products or regions.
• Showing survey results for a multiple-choice question (e.g., feature requests).
• Presenting marketing campaign performance metrics like clicks or conversions.

While often used interchangeably, it’s worth noting the distinction Google Sheets makes between bar charts (horizontal bars) and column charts (vertical bars). Horizontal bar charts are particularly useful when you have long category labels that wouldn’t fit nicely on the bottom axis of a column chart. Column charts, on the other hand, are often better for showing numbers that change over a period of time, though a line graph is typically the best choice for time-series data.

Step 1: Set Up and Format Your Data

A great chart starts with well-organized data. Google Sheets needs your information to be structured in a specific way to understand how to draw the graph. For a basic bar graph, you should set up your spreadsheet with a minimum of two columns.

• Column A (Categories): This will contain your labels. These are the distinct items you want to compare - for example, marketing channels, product names, or countries.
• Column B (Values): This column holds the numbers that correspond to each category. This could be anything from revenue and user counts to click-through rates.

Here’s a simple example of what your data table should look like for tracking quarterly blog traffic from social media:

A few quick tips for setting up your data:

• Include Headers: Always put a clear header (like "Channel" and "Sessions") in the first row. Google Sheets is smart enough to use these as default labels for your chart’s axes and legend.
• Keep It Clean: Don’t leave empty rows or columns in the middle of your dataset, as this can confuse Google Sheets when it tries to select your data range automatically.
• Use Consistent Formatting: Ensure your numerical data is formatted as numbers, currency, or percentages appropriately.

Step 2: How to Create Your Bar Graph in Google Sheets

Once your data is neatly organized in columns, creating the actual graph is a fast and simple process.

Here's how to do it step-by-step:

1. Select your data. Click and drag your mouse to highlight all the cells containing the data you want to visualize, including the headers. In our example above, you would select cells A1 through B5.
2. Insert the chart. With the data highlighted, navigate to the main menu and click Insert > Chart.
3. Choose your chart type. Google Sheets will instantly generate a chart and open the Chart editor on the right side of your screen. It will try to guess the best chart type for your data, but it might not always get it right. If it doesn’t automatically create a bar graph, navigate to the Setup tab in the Chart editor. Click the dropdown under Chart type and select either a Bar chart (horizontal bars) or a Column chart (vertical bars).

That’s it! You now have a basic bar graph right inside your Google Sheet. It’s functional, but with a bit of customization, you can make it much more informative and visually appealing.

Step 3: Customize Your Bar Graph for a Professional Look

The default chart is a great starting point, but the true power of Google Sheets lies in its customization options. In the Chart editor, switch from the Setup tab to the Customize tab. This is where you can refine every element of your bar graph.

Chart and Axis Titles

Giving your chart a clear, descriptive title is arguably the most important customization you can make. Click on the Chart & axis titles section to:

• Chart title: Replace the default title ("Sessions vs. Channel") with something more informative, like "Q3 Social Media Traffic to Blog."
• Axis titles: Label your horizontal (X-axis) and vertical (Y-axis) titles. For our example, the horizontal axis title could be "Number of Sessions," and the vertical axis could be removed since the channel names are self-explanatory.

Series Settings

The "series" refers to the bars themselves. This section lets you control their appearance.

• Change bar color: Click on Series. Under the Format dropdown, you can change the color of all the bars. This is especially useful for matching your company's branding.
• Add data labels: Check the box for Data labels to display the exact numerical value on each bar. This is a huge help for readability, as your audience won't have to guess the values based on the gridlines. You can adjust the position, font, and color of these labels for clarity.

Legend, Gridlines, and Ticks

For more detailed adjustments, you have a few more valuable sections:

• Legend: If your chart includes multiple data series (like comparing this quarter’s numbers to last quarter’s), the legend is critical. You can change its position (top, bottom, right, etc.), font, and text color. If you only have one data series, there’s no need for a legend, and you can set its position to "None" to reduce clutter.
• Gridlines and Ticks: Under the Gridlines and Ticks section, you can add or remove gridlines, change their color, and control the major and minor tick marks to give your axes the exact look you want. Reducing the color opacity of gridlines (e.g., to a light gray) can make your bars visually stand out more.

Different Types of Bar Graphs You Can Make

Google Sheets offers more than just the standard bar graph. Depending on your data, you might want to try these other variations:

Stacked Bar/Column Chart

This type of chart is used to show a part-to-whole relationship. Instead of placing bars side by side, it stacks them on top of each other. This is useful for comparing the total across categories while also showing the composition of each category.

For example, you could show total sales per region, with each bar broken down to show the proportion of sales from "Online" vs. "In-Store." To create this, you’d modify your data to have three columns:

Then, under the Chart type dropdown, select Stacked bar chart or Stacked column chart. Make sure stacking is set to "Standard."

100% Stacked Bar Chart

This is a variation of the stacked bar chart where each bar adds up to 100%. This chart type is not for showing totals, its purpose is to show the relative percentage of each sub-category across the different main categories.

Using the example above, a 100% stacked chart would clearly show that the East region generates a much higher percentage of its revenue online compared to the South region, even though the South region has higher total revenue. Select 100% stacked column chart in the editor to use this variation. This focuses the story on proportions rather than absolute numbers.

A Few Pro Tips to Keep In Mind

• Sort Your Data First: To make comparisons easier to see, sort your raw data from highest to lowest (or vice-versa) before creating your chart. This will order your bars in a way that’s immediately intuitive.
• Keep It Simple: Avoid adding too many colors, 3D effects, or decorative elements that don't add clarity. The goal is to make the data easy to understand, not confuse the viewer.
• Tell a Story: The Title is Your Headline: Your chart title is your best chance to tell the reader what they're looking at and why it matters. A title like "Pinterest is the #1 Driver of Q3 Traffic" is much more compelling than "Q3 Traffic."

Final Thoughts

Creating bar graphs in Google Sheets is a simple process that transforms raw numbers into easily digestible visuals. By setting up your data correctly and exploring the customization options, you can create professional charts that effectively communicate your findings and tell a clear story.

While Google Sheets is fantastic for quick, manual analysis, sometimes pulling reports can feel like a chore - especially when your data lives across Google Analytics, your ad platforms, and your CRM. We built Graphed to automate that process. You connect your data sources once, then just ask simple questions in plain English - like "Show me a bar chart of marketing spend vs revenue by campaign last month" - to instantly get real-time dashboards that update themselves.