How to Make a Bar Graph in Excel with 4 Variables (with Easy Steps)

The Bar Graph is a type of graph to represents data in a specific way. There are more options to represent data through different graphs. Usually, there are two variables present in a bar graph. But in this article, we will show how to make a bar graph in Excel with 4 variables in detail.

What Is Bar Graph?

A Bar Graph is a graphical representation of data with rectangular bars. The length of each bar represents the value or is proportional to the value of the variables. It is also called Bar Chart.

This is a sample bar graph, showing the revenue for different months

Some common characteristics of the Bar Graph are-

All rectangular bars are of equal width and space.
We can draw rectangular bars horizontally or vertically.
Rectangular bars must be in the same base.
The height or length of the bars indicates the value of the data presented.

How to Make a Bar Graph in Excel with 4 Variables: With Easy Steps

This article will show all the steps to making a Bar graph in Excel with 4 variables. We have a data set that contains information on the showroom’s sales, profit, cost, and profit percentage each week. We will show all these variables in the bar graphs at the same time.

📌Step 1: Insert Data for Bar Graph

In the 1st step, we will insert data to form the bar graph. First, we will insert data for the Week and the Sales columns.

Select Range B5:C9.
Go to the Insert tab.
Choose the 2-D Bar option from the Insert Column or Bar Chart.

Look at the dataset.

A bar chart has formed already.

📌Step 2: Customize Legends in Bar Graph

In this section, we will customize the Legends of the graph.

Keep the cursor on the graph.
Now, press the right button of the mouse.
Click on the Select Data from the Context Menu.

The Select Data Source window appears.
We can see that the data is named Series1. Need to change the name here.
Select Series1 and then click on the Edit option.

In the Series name box choose Cell C4, which will set the legend of the shown graph.

Finally, press OK.

We can see that the name has changed accordingly.

📌Step 3: Add New Variables

As we want to make a graph of 4 variables, we need to add 3 more variables to this graph.

Click on the Add button of the Select Data Source window.

The Edit Series window appears.
In the Series name box choose Cell D4. After that choose the corresponding value column in the Series values box.

Then, press OK.

We can see 4 variables are shown in the window.

Look at the graph now.

4 bars are shown for each week of different colure.

📌Step 4: Customize Graph Elements

In this section, we will customize different elements of the graph to get a clear idea of the graph on the first look.

Click on the graph.
We can see a plus sign named Chart Elements.
Click on there.
Now, check the required elements from the list.

We want to customize the chart title, and axis title and show the legends.

Give names to the chart and the axes.

Axes title, chart title, and legends are shown here clearly.

📌Step 5: Edit and Format Data Series of Bar Graph

In this step, we will edit the bars of the graph. Like we can change the color.

Click on any bar of the graph.
Double-click the bar.
The Format Data Series window appears on the right side.
Go to the Color option.

We chose the green color from there.

We can see the bar color has changed successfully.

💬 Things to Remember

In some cases, we should not use the Bar graph.

When we want to show properties bar chart is not suitable rather than a Pie chart.
When we want to show the change of overtime the Line graph is better than the Bar chart.

Download Practice Workbook

Download the following practice workbook to exercise while you are reading this article.

Bar Graph with 4 Variables.xlsx

Conclusion

In this article, we see the full process of how to make a bar graph in Excel with variables. We explained all the steps in detail with images. I hope this will satisfy your needs.

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