Step 1: Select the data range

When you open your Google Sheets spreadsheet, click and drag to select the dataset you want to use for your column chart.

Step 2: Open the chart editor

After selecting your data, go to the "Insert" menu at the top of Google Sheets and click on "Chart." This opens the Chart Editor in a sidebar on the right side of your spreadsheet.

Step 3: Create a column chart

In the Chart Editor, select "Column chart" from the list of options.

Step 4: Move the column chart to its own sheet (optional)

To edit your column chart without any distractions, you can move it to a new sheet. Click on the three vertical dots located at the top right corner of the chart and select “Move to own sheet.”

Google Sheets will automatically generate a new sheet named “Chart 1,” where you can view and edit your column chart without any distractions.

Step 5: Customize the chart

The Chart Editor can be accessed by clicking on “Edit chart” from the column chart’s menu, where you can customize various aspects of your chart.

Step 5.1: Change the chart’s title

To add titles and labels to your chart in the Chart Editor, navigate to the "Chart & axis titles" section. There, you can add a chart title, label the X and Y axes, and choose your preferred font, size, format, and text color. Click on the text boxes and type descriptive titles to make your chart's purpose clear.

Step 5.2: Change chart style

In the Chart Editor, navigate to the Chart Style section. There, you can modify the background color, and font, and add a border to your column chart.

Step 5.3: Edit the series

In the Customize tab of the chart editor, navigate to the Series section and click on the dropdown to edit how each column appears.

Step 6: Share it with your team

If you're finished with the chart, you can easily share it with your team or specific people by clicking on the "Share" button. Alternatively, you can publish the chart or download it as an image.

Step 1: Log in to Softr or create an account

To get started, sign in to your Softr account. If you don’t have an account already, sign up to Softr for free.

Step 2: Choose a template or build from scratch

Once you have successfully logged in or signed up, locate and click on the "New Application" button.

Step 3: Create a blank application

You will be directed to the template gallery, where you can select the option for creating a blank application to begin making your column chart.

Step 4: Deselect the prebuilt pages you don't want to use

Deselect all the prebuilt pages by clicking on each option, except the Home page. Then click on the “Create application” button.

Step 5: Connect Softr and Google Sheets

In order to create a column chart in Softr using your Google Sheets data, you must first connect the two products.

Step 5.1: Choose Google Sheets as the data source

First, click on “Google Sheets” and then on “Continue” to allow Softr to access your data for creating a column chart.

Step 5.2: Log in to your Google account

To specify which Google account your Google Sheets file is in, click on the correct option and log in to your account.

Step 5.3: Authorize Softr

Tick the two highlighted boxes in the image below to authorize Softr to make changes in your Google Sheets and Google Drive files. Then click on "Continue."

Step 6: Delete all the pre-built blocks

Before creating your column chart, delete unnecessary pre-built blocks to start building on a blank canvas, by hovering on each section and clicking on the delete button.

Step 7: Open the pre-made blocks browser

Click on the “+” sign either at the center or at the top right corner of your screen to open the pre-made blocks browser.

Step 8: Add a chart

When the block browser appears, type “bar chart.” Preview and select by hovering and clicking on the chart.

Step 9: Choose from which Google Sheet file you want to import the data

To connect your data source, go to the Source tab and click on “Connect data source”. Choose the Google Sheets account you want to use, and then select the spreadsheet that contains the data you need. Softr will provide you with a list of your sheets to choose from, and you need to select the one you want to import data from.

Step 10: Customize your chart

In the Features, you can change the appearance of your chart.

Step 10.1: Change your chart title and subtitle

Type the title and subtitle you want into the respective text box.

Step 10.2: Choose the variable for the Y-axis

To ensure the data from your connected Google Sheets displays through the chart, go to the metrics section just below the title and subtitle. There, under the Aggregate function, choose “Sum,” and under Field, select the value you want to be your Y-axis (Organic Traffic, in our case).

Step 10.3: Choose the variable for the X-axis

Under Groupings, select the variable that you want to be used for the X-asis of your chart. In our case, it is the “Year” variable.

Step 10.4: Change the styling

In the Styles tab, you can change the background color and add border lines to the top and bottom of your chart.

Step 10.5: Change the access permissions

In the Visibility tab, you can change the access permissions of your chart. The default setting here is “All users,” which means everyone can see the chart when it is published, whether they are logged in or not. If you want only logged-in users to access the data, click on the dropdown and select “logged-in users.” Repeat the process if you want only non-logged-in users to view your chart.

Step 11: Test and optimize

Click on the preview button to see how your chart looks before sharing it with others. Then, click on the “Publish” button to save your changes and share it with others.