How to Create a Multi-Line Chart in Excel

Launch Excel. Open Excel by starting the application installed on your device or using a browser with a Microsoft Office account. If you don’t have the Excel app or a paid Microsoft 365 subscription, you can purchase or try the program for free on Microsoft’s website at https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/excel.

• Excel is available on Windows, Mac, and Android devices. You can use Excel on your computer, tablet, or phone.
• The Microsoft 365 subscription allows access to Excel, Word, PowerPoint, and other Microsoft applications. The service costs $69.99 per year (approximately 1.6 million VND) for a personal plan and $99.99 per year (around 2.3 million VND) for a family plan. The family plan supports up to 6 users.

Create a new file. On the main screen of Excel, click on "New blank workbook." This action opens a new worksheet where you can input your data.

• If you already have a spreadsheet with data for creating a chart, you can open that file from the Excel homepage under the "All" or "My recent" section.
• Next to the "New blank workbook" option, you’ll see "Welcome to Excel." If you’re new to Excel, click on this to explore basic usage tutorials.

Organize data into columns. To create a line chart, you need to input data for two axes. On a line chart, these axes represent changes in data over time. For example, if you want to visualize distance over time, the x-axis represents time data, and the y-axis represents distance data. Select the leftmost column—column A—to input time data for the x-axis. Enter the time points you want the x-axis to display in column A. In the next column, input the data points for the first line you want to display over time in column A. Continue entering data for subsequent lines until all the data points you want to display on the chart are in the same column on the spreadsheet. These columns will create the graph lines based on the time data on the x-axis.

• All data points for a single line must be entered in the same column.
• Name the data groups in row 1. Column A will represent the time data used to plot the lines on the chart. Name the remaining columns according to the data groups they represent.
• For example, if you want to create a chart showing Honda car sales over the past 10 years, column A should be labeled "Year," and columns B, C, and D should be labeled "CR-V," "Civic," "Accord," etc. The lines on the chart will be named CR-V, Civic, and Accord, based on the years entered in column A.

Select the data for the chart. Click and drag your mouse over the data columns you want to include in the chart. Drag from the top-left corner to the bottom-right corner of the data group you wish to display on the chart. The selected data will be highlighted in the spreadsheet.

• Each data column you select will represent a line on the chart.
• Remember to include the column headers when selecting the data group. The names of the data groups will appear in the chart’s legend.

Click on "Insert" in the menu at the top of the screen. Above the spreadsheet, you’ll see a menu with editing options for the worksheet. Locate and click on the "Insert" option in this menu.

Select the line chart icon under "Recommended Charts." Below the "Insert" option, a new menu appears with a section labeled "Recommended Charts." In this section, choose the line chart icon to insert a line chart of your data into the spreadsheet. Inserting the line chart will automatically generate multiple lines representing the data points. Each data column corresponds to a line on the chart.

• If you want to create a chart with only one line, simply select a single data column before inserting the chart.
• Creating multiple lines on one chart is an effective way to compare different data groups.
• If you’ve entered names for each data group in row 1, this information will appear in the legend below the chart, indicating what each line represents.

Enter a new data column into the spreadsheet. Add the data to the column immediately to the right of the last data column in the chart.

• Remember to name the column in row 1 so this information appears on the chart.
• You can create a new chart with this data by repeating the steps of selecting data and adding a line to the chart. If you want to add a new line to an existing chart, follow the steps below.

Select the chart and click on "Chart" above the spreadsheet. Click once on the line chart in the spreadsheet to select it. Next, locate the "Chart" section in the menu at the top-right corner of the spreadsheet.

• In this menu, you can edit various elements of the chart, such as the title and the line chart style.

Click on "Select Data" in the options panel. Opening the "Chart" section will display a menu with several chart-related options. Selecting "Select Data" will open a window showing the data range displayed in the line chart.

Modify the data range to include a new data column. In the "Select Data" window, you’ll see the data range. For example, your data range might start from column A, row 1, to column E, row 6 in the spreadsheet. This range will appear as "=Sheet1!$A$1:$E$6." To add new data, change the second character in the data range to the character of the rightmost column you want to include in the chart. Updating the data range will automatically incorporate the new data into the chart.

• If you’ve plotted a line chart with data from columns A to E and want to add lines for data in columns F and G, change the second character in the data range to "G."
• To add new rows of data, adjust the second numerical value to reflect the new row number you want to include in the chart.
• Update the data range to include as many new columns as needed. Each additional column in the data range will generate a new line on the chart.