Histograms are a means to represent your data visually for better interpretation by the viewers. In Microsoft Excel, you can create histograms for your tabular data without any hassle.
Also read: How to create pie charts in Excel?
Steps to create a histogram in Excel
Let’s get started with this step-by-step guide to creating histograms in Excel.
1. Create a tabular data
To begin to create a histogram, you would be required to prepare a tabular representation of your data in the sheet. Let us take an example of tabular data here-
2. Creating a histogram
We have a set of income records of 8 employees available before us. Now, we want a visual representation of this data through a histogram. Here is how to create a histogram-
- Select the entire database.
- Go to the Insert tab.
- Under the Charts section, click on the Statistic Chart icon and Histogram.
We have got quite a pointless histogram that is auto-generated by Excel for our database-
3. Set up and customization of a histogram
Now, how do we get make this histogram meaningful and useful to ourselves? Here is how-
- Right-click on the histogram.
- Select Format Data Series.
- This opens a window on the right showing Format Data Series.
- Pull down on Series Options.
- Select Horizontal Axis.
- Select the bar graph icon.
- Under Axis Options, change Automatic to By Category.
The histogram looks slightly meaningful but not fully ready yet.
To improve the data structure and presentation we will proceed to do as follows-
- Click on the histogram.
- Click on the green plus icon on the top right of the chart to open Chart Elements options.
- Check Legends to show legends on the chart, uncheck Axis Titles if you don’t want to see them or you can rename any element by double-clicking them.
Now, this histogram looks properly structured and renamed-
4. Color and style customization
You can change the look of a histogram in terms of its style and color. Here is how-
- Click on the histogram or its chart area.
- Select the paintbrush icon on the top right of the chart.
- Select your favorite style under Style and color under Color.
This is how we have customized this histogram below-
Conclusion
This was a detailed step-by-step guide to creating a histogram in Excel from scratch. If you want to learn Excel in detail, check out this blog and become a pro at Microsoft Excel.