Spread the loveLine graphs are a powerful tool for visualizing data trends over time. They are commonly used in business, science, and academia to display changes in data sets over a period of time.

Excel's Format Chart Pane, with the first drop-down menu expanded and highlighted. The legend in an Excel chart is selected, and the Format Legend options are displayed in the Format Chart Pane.

By selecting all three columns of data, you can select the type of chart from Excel's Insert tab. The most useful selection is a bar chart, because it allows you to format the second series as a line.

Microsoft Excel gives you a boatload of options for changing the format of color charts. You can change the layout of a chart, then customize that layout to the format you prefer. For example, you ...