A trendline is a slope or line that reveals an overall look of a data series and also visualizes the forecasting future values inside a chart in Excel. It is a best-fit line that can be added to the area, bar, column, line, and bubble charts. Similarly, it is not supported in a stacked, 3D, pie, surface, and doughnut chart. In this article, I am going to share with you the solution to the trendline option not showing in Excel.
3 Reasons with Solutions of Trendline Option Not Showing in Excel
In the following, I have explained 3 reasons with solutions for trendlines not showing in Excel.
Suppose, we have a dataset of some Employee Names and their Total Sales volume. Now, we are going to insert different charts and show you the reasons and solutions for the trendline option not showing in Excel.
Reason 1: Trendline Option Will Not Be Showing Inside 3D-Chart in Excel
If you insert a 3D chart in Excel you will you won’t be able to insert a trendline into the chart as it’s not supported for the chart. Follow the steps below to learn the reasons and solution-
Steps:
- Choose data from the table that you want to add to the chart. Here, I have selected cells (C4:D12).
- Meanwhile, once the data is selected go to “Charts” from the “Insert” tab.
- From the drop-down list choose a “3-D Clustered Column” chart.
- We have a 3-D chart in our hands.
- Go to the “Chart Design” option and open the “Add Chart Element” list.
- Now, you will see the “Trendline” option is not visible.
Solution: Convert 3D-Chart into 2D-Chart
We have a simple and easy solution for this problem.
Steps:
- Firstly, we will select data from the table.
- Now, selecting data click the “2-D column” from the “Insert” tab.
- In the same way, just like the previous steps open the drop-down list from the “Add Chart Element” list.
- Finally, you will get the Trendline option from the list.
- Click the “Trendline” to insert a line inside the chart.
- In addition, you will get different types of trendlines to choose from. Here, I have selected “Linear”.
- Thus, we will get our desired result inside the chart just by changing the chart type.
Reason 2: Excel Stacked Chart Make Trendline Option Greyed Out
Sometimes while working in Microsoft Excel, you might find the trendline option is greyed out. In this part, I will describe the reasons and solutions for this problems. In addition, I have shared the solution for this too.
Steps:
- Select the data from the spreadsheet.
- Go to Insert > 2-D Bar Chart.
- Similarly, open the “Add Chart Element” but you will find the “Trendline” is greyed out.
Solution: Change Chart Type
Just like the previous one you can change the chart type to get the trendline feature inside the chart. To do so follow the steps-
Steps:
- Choose data from the table and select a 2-D column chart from the “Insert” tab.
- Therefore, in this 2-D column chart, you can get the “Trendline” from the “Chart Design” option.
- Generally, I have chosen the “Moving Average” trendline. You can select any trendline of your choice.
- Thus we will get the Trendline inside the chart.
Read More: How to Add a Trendline to a Stacked Bar Chart in Excel
Reason 3: Pie or Doughnut Chart Will Disable Trendline Option
You will also find problems with the Doughnut chart. But don’t worry. I have a simple solution for you. Here, I will show you the problems with pie or doughnut charts.
Steps:
- Create a doughnut chart from the “Insert” tab choosing data from the dataset.
- Now selecting the chart if you go to “Add Chart Elements” you will see the “Trendline” option is not available.
Solution: Use Different Chart
Here I will show you the solution to this.
Steps:
- To begin with, create a “2-D line chart” by selecting the data.
- Similarly, you can draw a “Trendline” inside the chart.
- Click “Exponential” from the “Trendline” list.
- Finally, you will get the trendline inside the chart.
Things to Remember
- You can also change the format of the trendline from the “Chart Elements” option.
- In a chart, for a trend line to be considered genuine, at least three highs or lows must be associated.
Download Practice Workbook
Download this practice workbook to exercise while you are reading this article.
Conclusion
In this article, I have tried to cover all the Reasons with Solutions for the trendline option not showing in Excel. Take a tour of the practice workbook and download the file to practice by yourself. Hope you find it useful. Please inform us in the comment section about your experience.
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