If you are searching for the solution or some special tricks to change the data source in an Excel chart then you have landed in the right place. There is a quick way to change the data source in an Excel chart. This article will show you each and every step with proper illustrations so, you can easily apply them for your purpose. Let’s get into the main part of the article.
How to Change Data Source in Excel Chart: 3 Useful Examples
Suppose, you have a forecast and actual sales data for some months of a product. And you have made e a chart but after that, you wanted to change the data source for the chart.
In this section, I will show you a quick and easy method to change the data source in a scatter chart, line chart, and Bar chart in Excel on Windows operating system. You will find detailed explanations of methods and formulas here. I have used Microsoft 365 version here. But you can use any other versions as of your availability. If any methods won’t work in your version then leave us a comment.
Example 1: Change Data Source in Scatter Chart
To change the data source, you should have a ready scatter chart. Suppose, here you have created a scatter chart to show forecast data with months and now you want to add Actual sales data to the chart. For this, you have to change the data source.
- To change the data source in an Excel chart, you have to double-click on the chart.
- Then, you will see a new tab named “Chart Design” will appear on the ribbon.
- Here, click on the “Select Data” option
While changing the data source, you can do 3 things, you can add data series, remove data series and edit the already added series. You will find these options in the “Select Data Source” window. Here, I am showing you all these ways.
⇨ Add New Data Series
- To add a data series to the scatter chart, click on the “Add” option in the “Select Data Source”
- Then a new window named “Edit Series” will appear.
- Here, select cell E4 in the Series Name box. It requires the name of the column.
- Then select the cells C5:C12 as the “Series X Value” which will be the X-axis of the chart.
- Then, select cells E5:E23 as the “Series Y Value” which will be the Y-axis of the chart.
- Finally, press OK.
- As a result, you will see a new curve will add to the chart which represents the actual sales data.
⇨ Remove Data Series
Now, if you want to remove any data series from the chart, you have to select the “remove” option in the “Select Data Source” window.
- For this, go to the “Select Data Source” window in a similar way mentioned before.
- Then, select the data series from the list which will be removed.
- Then, click on the Remove button
- As a result, you will see that the curve for the removed data series will be erased.
⇨ Edit Existing Data Series
Sometimes, you may need to edit the data series which has already been added to the chart. For this, follow the steps below:
- Go to the “Select Data Source” by double-clicking on the chart.
- Select the data series to edit.
- Then, click on the Edit option.
Read More: How to Change Chart Data Range in Excel
Example 2: Change Data Source in Line Chart
There are some differences between the line chart and the scatter chart. Like while selecting the data series again, you have to select the data series for Y-axis only in Line chart because it has made the X-axis column fixed. But in a scatter chart, you can add both X-axis and Y-Axis in the data series.
📌 Steps:
- Suppose, you have a line chart on the forecast sales data. And you want to edit the data source to add actual sales data in the chart.
- For this, similarly double-click on the line chart and go to the “Select Data” option in the top ribbon.
- Then, click on the “Add” button to add new data series.
- Now, the “Edit Series” window will appear.
- Here, you will see 2 insert boxes but in the scatter chart, you found 3 insert boxes.
- So, select the E4 cell as the “Series Name”.
- And select cells E5:E12 as the “Series Values” which will be the Y-axis.
You don’t have to add the X-axis data series as the line chart will use the X-axis of the previously added data series.
- As a result, a new curve will add to the line chart.
You can remove and edit data sources in a line chart in a similar way to the scatter chart.
Read More: How to Change Chart Data Range Automatically in Excel
Example 3: Change Data Source in Bar/Column Chart
Similarly, you may need to change the data source of a bar or column chart. Here, I am showing the steps to change the data source in the bar chart.
📌 Steps:
- At first, create a bar chart, and to add another data series go to the Chart Design tab >> Select Data >> Add option.
- In the “Edit Series” window, select cell E4 as the “Series Name”
- And, select the cells E5:E12 as “Series Values”.
- As a result, you have added a new data series to the bar chart.
You can remove and edit the data source in the bar chart in a similar way shown for the Scatter chart.
Download Practice Workbook
You can download the practice workbook from here:
Conclusion
In this article, you have found how to change the data source in an Excel chart. After reading this article, you will be able to add, remove and edit data series in any type of excel chart. I hope you found this article helpful. Please, drop comments, suggestions, or queries if you have any in the comment section below.
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