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Charts and sparklines in a sheet

Turn a range of figures into a bar, line, area, pie or scatter chart, or draw a small trend line or bars inside a cell with =SPARKLINE.

All plansUpdated

PlexiiSheets draws two kinds of chart from your figures:

  • A chart of a range of cells: bar, line, area, pie or scatter. It sits under the sheet and redraws as the figures change.
  • A sparkline: a small line or set of bars drawn inside a single cell, made with the =SPARKLINE formula. Use it for a trend column beside a row of numbers.

Both read the values your cells show, so a cell with a formula is charted by its result.

Before you start

  • Charts and sparklines are on every plan.
  • Open a spreadsheet in PlexiiSheets, or click inside a Spreadsheet widget on a desk. See PlexiiSheets overview.
  • Set your figures out as a block: labels down the first column, a heading at the top of each column of figures, and numbers underneath.

Add a chart

  1. Select the cells to chart, including the labels in the first column and the headings in the first row. Drag across them, or click the first cell and Shift-click the last.
  2. Click Insert chart (the bar chart button) on the toolbar and choose a type: bar, line, area, pie or scatter. The Insert menu has the same command under Insert > Chart, with Bar chart, Line chart and Pie chart.

The chart appears below the sheet, under Add row. Each chart you add gets its own card, two side by side when there is room.

How the selection becomes a chart

  • When you select more than one row, the first row gives the series names, one series for each column of figures.
  • When you select more than one column, the first column gives the labels along the chart.
  • A cell that is not a number is plotted as 0.

For example, for a block with months down column A and two columns of sales figures in B and C, select from A1 to the last figure in column C. The chart shows one series for each of columns B and C, with the months as labels.

What you see

Each chart card has a title naming its type, such as Bar chart, and the chart itself. The chart reads the same cells every time it draws, so when you change a figure, or a formula's result changes, the chart changes with it.

To take a chart away, click × (Remove chart) at the top right of its card. The cells are not touched. Undo brings the chart back.

Charts belong to the sheet tab you made them on, so each tab shows its own charts.

Add a sparkline

A sparkline is a formula, so it lives in a cell and moves with it.

With the toolbar

  1. Select the figures you want to see as a trend, such as one row of monthly numbers.
  2. Click the sparkline button (Insert a sparkline of the selection into the next cell) on the toolbar, or choose Insert > Sparkline.

PlexiiSheets writes =SPARKLINE(...) with your range into the next cell and selects it:

  • If you selected a single row, the sparkline goes in the cell just to the right of it.
  • Otherwise it goes in the cell just below the first column of your selection.

If that cell is past the edge of the sheet, PlexiiSheets adds the row or column it needs.

By typing the formula

Type the formula into any cell:

  • =SPARKLINE(B2:M2) draws a line.
  • =SPARKLINE(B2:M2, "bar") draws bars instead.

As you type =SPA, the list of functions offers SPARKLINE with a short description. See Formulas, functions and named ranges.

What a sparkline shows

  • The line or bars are scaled to fit the cell, from the smallest value in the range to the largest.
  • Empty cells and text in the range are skipped.
  • A line needs at least two numbers and bars need at least one. With fewer, the cell shows a faint dashed line instead of a chart.
  • Make the column wider to stretch the sparkline out.

Where a sparkline cell's value is used as text, such as in a .csv file or in another formula that refers to it, it stands for the numbers it charts, separated by spaces.

Tips

  • Chart a summary, not the raw list. For a long list of records, make a pivot table first, then chart the figures you need. See Pivot tables.
  • Charts in a deck. To show the same figures on a slide and keep them up to date, link a slide chart to the spreadsheet. See Charts linked to a spreadsheet.
  • Charts on a desk. The Chart widget on a desk draws from a Table widget rather than a spreadsheet. See Chart widget.

Common questions

My chart shows "Series 1" and "Row 1" instead of my headings. The selection did not include them. Select again, starting from the cell above your first label, and add the chart again. Then remove the old one with ×.

Some bars are missing or at zero. Those cells hold text, such as a number typed with a word after it. Change them to plain numbers.

Can I change a chart's type? Remove the chart and add it again with the type you want. Your figures are not affected.

Do charts go into an exported Excel file? The .xlsx file holds your cells, formulas and formatting. Charts stay in PlexiiSheets. See Import and export Excel and CSV files.

The sparkline cell shows a dashed line. The range has fewer numbers than the sparkline needs: at least two for a line, one for bars. Check that the range covers your figures and that they are numbers.

Still need help? Contact support at [email protected].