Sparklines in Excel: Explained
In this article, you will learn about Sparklines and how to create it in Excel.
What are Sparklines in Excel?
Sparklines are often called mini charts, which help visualize a large volume of data and identify data trends. It helps to uncover the hidden data trends and use different sparkline chart types. Sparklines can also be referred to as small graphs created to offer simple visual clues about the data plotted on the mini chart. In contrast to the normal charts, which reside over the cells, they are tiny charts that reside inside a single cell. Sparkline feature was added to the Microsoft Excel 2010 version onwards.
Types of Sparklines in Excel
There are three types of sparklines graphics present in Microsoft Excel:
Line: This type of sparkline graphic visualizes the data in a line graph format. The line-type sparkline graphic appears as shown in the below snapshot.
Column: This type of sparkline graphic visualizes the data in column form, similar to the column chart. The column-type sparkline graphic appears as shown in the below snapshot.
Win/Loss: This type of sparkline graphic visualizes the data as positive or negative based on color variation. The Win/Loss type sparkline graphic appears in the snapshot below.
Showing Sparklines is an excellent way to display the trends or variations in a large volume of data inside a cell. Microsoft Excel 2010 version onwards has this feature, letting you add the mini charts right next to your data. In this way, you can quickly visualize data on a row-by-row basis. It’s just another great way to analyze data in Excel.
How to create Sparklines in Microsoft Excel
In this article, we'll guide you through the steps to create sparklines in Excel.
Step 1: Prepare your data
Before creating sparklines, you need to have the data you want to represent. Ensure that the data is organized in a table format, with each column representing a category and each row representing a data point.
The example dataset taken is for Financial Institution Branches across the country for a fiscal year period. In terms of data preparation, you need to ensure a clean, formatted, and consistent dataset.
Step 2: Select the cells for your sparkline
Once your data is prepared, select the cells where you want your sparklines to appear. You can choose one cell, a range of cells, or an entire column or row.
Step 3: Insert the sparkline
With your cells selected, go to the "Insert" tab in the ribbon at the top of the Excel window. Select the type of sparkline you want to create from the "Sparklines" group. There are three types of sparklines available: line, column, and win/loss.
In the “Create Sparklines” dialog box, select the Data Range from Cell B2:M2 and Location Range as N2. Click Ok to generate Sparkline.
Step 4: Copying the sparkline
Once you've created a sparkline, you can easily copy it to other cells. Select the cell containing the sparkline, click on the bottom right corner of the cell, and drag it to the other cells where you want to copy the sparkline.
Step 5: Configure the sparkline options
After inserting the sparkline, you can configure its options to suit your needs better. To do this, click on the cell containing the sparkline to select it, and then go to the "Sparkline Tools" tab in the ribbon. You can adjust the sparkline type, style, color, and markers here. If you click the Sparkline, the Sparkline tab appears in the menu bar from where the Sparklines can be easily customized.
Sparkline color can be chosen from the “Style group” and “Marker Color” dropdowns consisting of varying customization options from marking High point, Low point, First point, and Last point.
The data has been adjusted to distinctively display the High Points (with a red marker) and Low Points (with a yellow marker) with the help of Markers, which assists in quick data analysis.
The Show segment displays the markers which are enabled on the Sparklines. You can select or deselect the checkboxes accordingly for changes to take effect on the Sparklines.
When should I create a Sparkline in Excel?
If you want to create small charts that are easy to embed into cells and help visualize data trends, Line and Column Sparklines in Microsoft Excel are a great option. They're a simple and effective way to display data without taking up too much space on your spreadsheet.
You should create a Win/Loss Sparkline when you want to visualize the improvement or deterioration of a performance in a certain period from the previous period. This can help identify patterns, trends, or changes in performance and communicate information quickly and easily to others.
Important note about Sparklines in Excel
Below are a few essential points to know about Excel Sparklines:
- Sparklines are dynamic and depend on the underlying dataset: When the corresponding dataset changes, the sparkline automatically updates itself with the updated data. This feature makes it a useful data visualization and analysis tool while preparing reports or working on data-intensive reports.
- Once the source is selected and the Sparkline graphic is added, you can delete, change and add data to the source cells and Excel will automatically update the visual graphic representation. This auto update of sparklines makes it more useful from the perspective that once you have set up your desired sparkline graphic type and necessary formatting, you can simply keep replacing the data values, and the sparkline graphic immediately uncovers the hidden data trends.
- Sparkline size depends on the size of the cell: If you change the cell height or width, the inserted sparkline in the cell will adjust accordingly.
- While you have a Sparkline chart in a cell, you can also enter text there.
- You can usually copy or cut the cell where the sparkline graphic is inserted. The Sparkline is copied or moved to the new location where you paste the cell.
You can customize these sparklines by changing the sparkline color, adding an axis, highlighting maximum and minimizing data points, enable different types of data pointers to be plotted on the graphic as per requirement. All the features are covered in the details in subsequent topics for a better understanding of the sparkline features and usage with example cases.
What you may also know about - Comparing Sparklines
Comparing Sparklines: When comparing similar sets of data, you need to make sure that you are comparing similar categories of data with each other. In order to ensure that your sparklines provide an accurate visual comparison, you need to set the vertical and horizontal axis values to be the same for all sparklines. Enabling the “Same For All Sparklines” Option ensures that you will quickly determine or identify which of the data set is performing better.
Conclusion
Sparklines are helpful when you have lots of data and want to see the trends quickly. They can make your data look better by adding a visual element, and you can even customize the colors to make them more attractive. The purpose of Sparklines is to provide a quick overview of the data trends without having to look at a big chart.
