With combo charts in Google Sheets, you can blend various chart types—such as column graphs, line graphs, and scatter plots—into one comprehensive visualization. This is invaluable for depicting complex data relationships, demonstrating interactions between variables, trends over time, and comparisons within a single chart.
In this article, we'll explore how to craft and customize combo charts in Google Sheets, ensuring your data speaks to your audience effectively. You'll discover how to:
- Make a combo chart in Google Sheets, using its chart editor,
- Make a combo chart in Google Sheets, using Apps Script,
Make a combo chart in Google Sheets, using its chart editor
Cost: $0
Time: 5 minutes
Making combo charts in Google Spreadsheets using its chart editor offers the benefit of a user-friendly experience and real-time preview. Plus, given the huge number of customization options available to you, you can tailor it to suit your specific needs.
To use Google Sheets’ chart editor to make a combo chart, follow the steps below.
Step 1: Select data range
Open your Google Sheets spreadsheet, and select the data you want to use for your combo chart.
Step 2: Open the chart editor
Go to the top menu, click on "Inser," and scroll down to select "Chart." The chart editor will open on the right-hand side of your Google Sheets window.
Step 3: Select Chart type
In the chart editor, under “Chart type,” use the dropdown menu to select “Line chart.” Then select the first option, which is the combo chart.
You’ll notice that the resulting graph will be a bar graph with each of the two selected columns represented in the Y and X axis. In our example, those are the Sales and Profit columns.
Step 4: Add a line to the chart
To add a line to your bar graph, thereby creating a combo chart, you need to select which data you want to be represented with the line. To do so, in the chart editor panel, under Series, click on “Add series” to select the data to be represented with a line.
Step 5: You’ve created a combo graph
Your graph is now a line graph combined with a bar graph, which means you’ve created a combo chart!
Step 6: Customize your combo chart
To customize your combo chart, navigate to the "Customize" tab in the Chart editor.
Here you can customize the chart’s style, titles, series, legend, axis, gridlines and ticks. Let’s explore each option in the next steps.
Step 6.1: Customize your combo chart style
In the chart editor, select “Chart style,” and then select the background color, font, and border color of your choice. You can also customize your combo chart by checking any of the following options:
- Smooth, which smoothes the line in your combo chart;
- Maximize, which maximizes the chart area within your combo chart;
- Plot Null Values, which ensures that the null or empty values in your data series are plotted in your combo chart;
- Compare Mode, which allows you to compare data series with different scales and units of measurement.
Step 6.2: Customize the combo chart’s title and axis
To customize your combo chart’s title and axis, under Customize in the chart editor panel, click on “Chart & axis titles.” Use the dropdown arrow to select whether you want to change the combo chart’s title, subtitle, horizontal axis title, or vertical axis title.
Next, use the field under “Title Text” to type down which is the new title you want. And finally, you can customize the title’s font, size, format, or even color, according to your preference.
Step 6.3: Customize the series
You can also customize the series of your combo chart in Google Sheets. To do so, in the chart editor, click on “Series,” so that you can select one of the series of your chart. Next, in the format section, you can change the line or bar’s color, opacity, and more.
As you make these changes, they will apply to your combo chart in real-time.
Step 6.4: Customize the legend
In the chart editor, by clicking on “Legend,” you gain access to a few options to customize the legend of your combo chart. You can change its position, font, size, format, and color.
Step 6.5: Customize the axis
You can also customize the horizontal and the vertical axis, in the chart editor. By clicking on either the “Horizontal axis” or “Vertical axis,” you can customize its label font, size, format, and text color.
You can even reverse the order of the data points in a given axis, by clicking on the “Reverse axis” checkbox. Additionally, you can slant the appearance of the data, by slanting its angle, using the “Slant labels” option.
Step 7: You’ve made a personalized combo chart in Google Sheets
By following the steps above, you’ve succeeded in creating a personalized combo chart in Google Sheets.
How to make a Combo chart in Google Sheets, using Apps Script
Cost: $0
Time: 3 minutes
Google Apps Script is another method you can use to create Combo charts. It uses scripting language developed by Google to automate tasks, enhance functionality and extend Google capabilities. It allows users to interact and manipulate data effectively.
Step 1: Open the Apps Script editor
On the top menu, click on extensions, and then click on Apps Scripts.
Step 2: Write the script
On the Apps script editor, paste the script below:
function createComboChart() {
var sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getSheetByName('Sheet1'); // Replace 'Sheet1' with your sheet name
var chartBuilder = sheet.newChart()
.asComboChart()
.addRange(sheet.getRange('A1:C6')) // Replace with your data range
.setOption('seriesType', 'bars') // Set the first series as columns
.setOption('seriesType', 'line') // Set the second series as a line
.setOption('series', {1: {type: 'line'}}) // Customize series type if needed
.setOption('title', 'My Combo Chart Title') // Customize the chart title
.setOption('hAxis.title', 'X-Axis Title') // Customize horizontal axis title
.setOption('vAxis.title', 'Y-Axis Title') // Customize vertical axis title
.setPosition(2, 5, 10, 10) // Adjust the position and size as needed
var chart = chartBuilder.build();
sheet.insertChart(chart);
}
Step 3: Customize the script
Next, you can follow the below steps to customize the script according to your needs.
Step 3.1: Customize chart type
Customize your chart type by changing the 'seriesType’ option. For example, you can set the first series as columns and the second series as a line graph.
You can also customize your Combo chart using various values for 'series type' to customize your series chart types. Common options include:
- 'line' represents the series as a line chart;
- 'bars' represents the series as a column (bar) chart;
- 'area' represents the series as an area chart;
'scatter' represents the series as a scatter plot.
Step 3.2: Adjust the position and size of the combo chart
You can adjust the position and size of your chart by adjusting .setPosition(x, y, width, height). Changing this will determine where the chart appears within your Google Sheets. Let's break down what each of these four variables means:
- X represents the horizontal position of the chart in your sheet and is measured in pixels from the left edge of the spreadsheet;
- Y represents the vertical position of your chart in your sheet measured in pixels from the top edge of the spreadsheet;
- Width determines how wide your chart will be and is measured in pixels;
- Height specifies how tall your chart will be and is measured in pixels.
Step 3.3: Customize your data range
To change your data range, update the data range in .addRange()to include the data you want in your chart.
Step 3.4: Customize the Axis and titles
Customize your axis labels and chart titles by editing 'title', 'hAxis', and 'vAxis'and replacing them with your desired names as shown in the image below.
Step 3.5: Add the name of your sheet
To add the name of your sheet, so that the script knows where to find the data and create the combo chart, replace 'Sheet1' with the name of your sheet.
Step 4: Run the script
To run the script, save the script by clicking on the save button and then click the play button in the Apps Script editor.
Step 4.1: Grant Google Access
Google will ask you for permission to access and change your spreadsheet after running the script. Click on “advanced” to grant access.
Step 4.2: Proceed to use the script
Click “Go to Script Name (unsafe)” for the script to be executed.
Step 5: Insert the Combo chart
Once your script has run successfully, the execution log will indicate that the execution was completed.
Step 6: You’ve created a combo chart, using Apps Script
After you’ve run the script, the combo chart will be inserted automatically onto your sheet in Google Sheets.
After mastering the creation and customization of combo charts in Google Sheets, you're well on your way to presenting data in a clear and impactful manner. But why stop there? For those looking to further leverage their data, a no-code app builder like Softr offers the perfect next step. With Softr, you can easily turn your business data into dashboards or other internal tools, without any coding required.
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Minnie Mururi
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