How to Make a Stacked Bar Chart in Excel (2 Quick Methods)

You may have created a Standard Chart in Excel on the basis of some gathered data, but sometimes you may need to represent data in a stacked manner in a chart in Excel and examine the gradual variation of different variables together. For this, you need to create a stacked bar chart. In this article, I will show you how to make a stacked bar chart in an Excel Spreadsheet.

Basics of Stacked Bar Chart

Bar Chart
A bar chart is a diagram where numerical values of variables are shown by the height or the length of the line or the rectangles of the same width.

Stacked Bar Chart
The stacked bar chart extends the standard bar chart from looking at numerical values from one categorized variable to two. This type of chart is used to picture the overall variation of the different variables. This is best suitable for the graphical representation of part-to-whole comparison over time.

A stacked bar chart can be formatted as 2-D and 3-D. Both these two have two different categories: stacked bar and 100% stacked bar. The stacked bar chart represents the user data directly and the 100% stacked bar chart represents the given data as a percentage of the data which contributes to a complete volume in a separate category.

How to Make a Stacked Bar Chart in Excel: 2 Quick Methods

In this section, you’ll find 2 easy ways to make a stacked bar chart in an Excel workbook by using Excel’s built-in features. Let’s check them now!

1. Use Quick Analysis Tool to Create Stacked Bar Chart

Let’s say, we have got a dataset of sales and profit of the salesmen of a shop for a certain period of time.

From the title of the section, you’ve understood that you are going to see the use of the Quick Analysis tool for creating a stacked bar chart. To create a stacked bar chart by using this method, just follow the steps below:

First, select the data and click the Quick Analysis tool at the right end of the selected area.
Then select the Charts menu and click More.

After that, the Insert Chart dialogue box will show up. Select All Charts > Click Bar.

Now, you will find an icon for creating a Stacked Bar, a 100% Stacked Bar, a 3D Stacked Bar, and a 100% 3D Stacked Bar. Choose the one you want. I have selected the Stacked Bar Chart.

Finally, you will get your chart ready.

If you want, you can also create a 3-D Stacked Bar Chart for the same data by repeating the same steps. All you need to do is to select the 3-D Stacked Bar Chart option.

And you will get the output.

So easy, isn’t it? You can create a bar chart in the blink of an eye by using this method.

2. Make Stacked Bar Chart Using Insert Chart Menu

Let’s say, that for our previous dataset, we want to create a stacked bar chart by using the Insert Chart option.

To make a stacked bar chart using this method, follow the steps below:

First of all, select the data area and then go to the Insert tab.
Now click the Insert Chart option. You will find different chart options.

Both 2-D & 3-D Bar have a Stacked Bar and 100% Stacked Bar Chart options. Choose the one you want to create and click it. I have selected the 100% 2-D Bar Chart.

You can also create a 100% 3-D Stacked Bar Chart for the same data by repeating the same process. You just need to select the 100% 3-D Stacked Bar now.

And now, your result will be ready.

That’s how we can make a stacked bar chart in Excel by using the Insert Chart option.

I’ve shown a couple of versions of the stacked bar chart in each method, but it doesn’t mean that you can not make the other variants with the methods. You can use any of the methods to create your preferred stacked bar chart.

Things to Remember

A stacked Bar Chart allows users the easy comparison of different data together.
It helps to analyze the result of a survey by highlighting the key aspects and differentiating the data values.
A title is given to make it easy for the user to understand which data it represents.
It does not differentiate the outputs between the 2-D and 3-D versions applied to the same data.
It is not applicable to a large number of segments where a comparison between them is involved.
Add axis titles, and change axis labels to make the visualization more meaningful.

Download Practice Workbook

Making Stacked Bar Chart.xlsx

Conclusion

In this article, we have learned how to create a stacked bar chart in an Excel worksheet. I hope from now on, you can quickly make a stacked bar chart in Excel. If you have any queries regarding this article, please don’t forget to leave a comment below. Have a great day!

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