ExcelWalaa
Academy • सीखो और जीतो
LoginGet Started
Light mode
LoginGet Started
fx Charts That Don't Lie
ENहिन्दी

Line, column, bar — and when not to use a pie chart

⏱ 13 min

What you'll learn

  • Line — for time
  • Column — for a few categories or few periods
  • Bar — for comparisons and long names

Concept

1. Line — for time

Select Month and Revenue → Insert → Line. Use when the x-axis is time and the shape matters (rising, falling, seasonal).

Capstone FY2025-26 monthly revenue (₹ lakh): Apr 192, May 205, Jun 216, Jul 175, Aug 232, Sep 247, Oct 360, Nov 365, Dec 267, Jan 222, Feb 207, Mar 261. A line shows the Diwali peak instantly.

Tips: up to ~4 lines per chart; label the line ends instead of a legend; markers only if there are few points.

2. Column — for a few categories or few periods

Vertical bars. Good for 2–7 categories or a short time series (quarters). Insert → Clustered Column.

Compare two years: FY2024-25 vs FY2025-26 per quarter as clustered columns — readers compare pairs easily.

3. Bar — for comparisons and long names

Horizontal bars. The default for "which is biggest?" with many items or long labels (store names, products).

Revenue by store FY2025-26 (₹ lakh): Karol Bagh 494, Connaught Place 449, Andheri 381, Bandra 366, Koramangala 366, T Nagar 348, Park Street 284, Salt Lake 261.

Sort it: sort the source data descending, then Format Axis → Categories in reverse order so the biggest is on top.

4. Stacked — use carefully

Stacked columns show totals and parts, but only the bottom segment is easy to compare. Use 100% stacked when the share matters more than the size. Keep to 2–4 segments.

5. Pie charts — when not to use them

People judge angles and areas poorly. A pie fails when:

  • there are more than 3–4 slices,
  • slices are similar in size (24% vs 26% — impossible to see),
  • you want to compare two pies (FY24 vs FY25),
  • the data is not parts of a whole (pies need a total that means something).

A pie is acceptable when there are 2–3 parts and one is clearly dominant — e.g. "Electronics 72% vs rest 28%". Even then, a single bar with two labels often reads better. Never use 3-D pies — perspective makes front slices look bigger.

Donut charts have the same limits; the hole is a good place for the total.

6. Clean defaults to change every time

Remove chart border and gridlines (or make gridlines light grey), delete the legend when there's one series, add data labels where few points, use one highlight colour for the point that matters and grey for the rest.

Common mistakes

Line charts for categories (implies a trend between unrelated stores). Unsorted bars. Pies with 8 slices. 3-D effects.

Practice file

⬇ Download analysis-visualization-practice.zip

Exercises

mediumBuild: a line of monthly FY2025-26 revenue, a sorted horizontal bar of revenue by store, and a "before/after": a pie of the four categories vs a sorted bar of the same data. Which one lets you read Kitchen vs Furniture faster?
Use Apr–Mar order for the FY line. Karol Bagh leads at 49363475; Salt Lake is lowest at 26091672.50. Category bars (descending) are Electronics 213520325, Furniture 41302725, Kitchen 35791280, Home Decor 4382080. The aligned bar baseline makes Kitchen vs Furniture easier to compare than pie angles.

Quiz

Store names are long — column or bar?
Bar
Max slices for a readable pie?
About 3–4, with clear differences
How do you put the largest bar on top?
Sort descending + Categories in reverse order
Line, column, bar — and when not to use a pie chart · Analysis & Visualization | ExcelWalaa