How do I create an Excel chart that pulls data from multiple sheets? [closed]

Question

I have monthly sales figures stored in separate sheets. I would like to create a plot of sales for multiple products per month. Each product would be represented in a different colored line on the same chart with each month running along the x axis.

What is the best way to create a single line chart that pulls from the same relative cells on multiple sheets?

Answer 1

Use the Chart Wizard.

On Step 2 of 4, there is a tab labeled "Series". There are 3 fields and a list box on this tab. The list box shows the different series you are already including on the chart. Each series has both a "Name" field and a "Values" field that is specific to that series. The final field is the "Category (X) axis labels" field, which is common to all series.

Click on the "Add" button below the list box. This will add a blank series to your list box. Notice that the values for "Name" and for "Values" change when you highlight a series in the list box.

Select your new series.

There is an icon in each field on the right side. This icon allows you to select cells in the workbook to pull the data from. When you click it, the Wizard temporarily hides itself (except for the field you are working in) allowing you to interact with the workbook.

Select the appropriate sheet in the workbook and then select the fields with the data you want to show in the chart. The button on the right of the field can be clicked to unhide the wizard.

Hope that helps.

EDIT: The above applies to 2003 and before. For 2007, when the chart is selected, you should be able to do a similar action using the "Select Data" option on the "Design" tab of the ribbon. This opens up a dialog box listing the Series for the chart. You can select the series just as you could in Excel 2003, but you must use the "Add" and "Edit" buttons to define custom series.

Answer 2

Here's some code from Excel 2010 that may work. It has a couple specifics (like filtering bad-encode characters from titles) but it was designed to create multiple multi-series graphs from 4-dimensional data having both absolute and percentage-based data. Modify it how you like:

Sub createAllGraphs()

Const chartWidth As Integer = 260
Const chartHeight As Integer = 200




If Sheets.Count = 1 Then
    Sheets.Add , Sheets(1)
    Sheets(2).Name = "AllCharts"
ElseIf Sheets("AllCharts").ChartObjects.Count > 0 Then
    Sheets("AllCharts").ChartObjects.Delete
End If
Dim c As Variant
Dim c2 As Variant
Dim cs As Object
Set cs = Sheets("AllCharts")
Dim s As Object
Set s = Sheets(1)

Dim i As Integer


Dim chartX As Integer
Dim chartY As Integer

Dim r As Integer
r = 2

Dim curA As String
curA = s.Range("A" & r)
Dim curB As String
Dim curC As String
Dim startR As Integer
startR = 2

Dim lastTime As Boolean
lastTime = False

Do While s.Range("A" & r) <> ""

    If curC <> s.Range("C" & r) Then

        If r <> 2 Then
seriesAdd:
            c.SeriesCollection.Add s.Range("D" & startR & ":E" & (r - 1)), , False, True
            c.SeriesCollection(c.SeriesCollection.Count).Name = Replace(s.Range("C" & startR), "Â", "")
            c.SeriesCollection(c.SeriesCollection.Count).XValues = "='" & s.Name & "'!$D$" & startR & ":$D$" & (r - 1)
            c.SeriesCollection(c.SeriesCollection.Count).Values = "='" & s.Name & "'!$E$" & startR & ":$E$" & (r - 1)
            c.SeriesCollection(c.SeriesCollection.Count).HasErrorBars = True
            c.SeriesCollection(c.SeriesCollection.Count).ErrorBars.Select
            c.SeriesCollection(c.SeriesCollection.Count).ErrorBar Direction:=xlY, Include:=xlBoth, Type:=xlCustom, Amount:="='" & s.Name & "'!$F$" & startR & ":$F$" & (r - 1), minusvalues:="='" & s.Name & "'!$F$" & startR & ":$F$" & (r - 1)
            c.SeriesCollection(c.SeriesCollection.Count).ErrorBar Direction:=xlX, Include:=xlBoth, Type:=xlFixedValue, Amount:=0

            c2.SeriesCollection.Add s.Range("D" & startR & ":D" & (r - 1) & ",G" & startR & ":G" & (r - 1)), , False, True
            c2.SeriesCollection(c2.SeriesCollection.Count).Name = Replace(s.Range("C" & startR), "Â", "")
            c2.SeriesCollection(c2.SeriesCollection.Count).XValues = "='" & s.Name & "'!$D$" & startR & ":$D$" & (r - 1)
            c2.SeriesCollection(c2.SeriesCollection.Count).Values = "='" & s.Name & "'!$G$" & startR & ":$G$" & (r - 1)
            c2.SeriesCollection(c2.SeriesCollection.Count).HasErrorBars = True
            c2.SeriesCollection(c2.SeriesCollection.Count).ErrorBars.Select
            c2.SeriesCollection(c2.SeriesCollection.Count).ErrorBar Direction:=xlY, Include:=xlBoth, Type:=xlCustom, Amount:="='" & s.Name & "'!$H$" & startR & ":$H$" & (r - 1), minusvalues:="='" & s.Name & "'!$H$" & startR & ":$H$" & (r - 1)
            c2.SeriesCollection(c2.SeriesCollection.Count).ErrorBar Direction:=xlX, Include:=xlBoth, Type:=xlFixedValue, Amount:=0
            If lastTime = True Then GoTo postLoop
        End If

        If curB <> s.Range("B" & r).Value Then

            If curA <> s.Range("A" & r).Value Then
                chartX = chartX + chartWidth * 2
                chartY = 0
                curA = s.Range("A" & r)
            End If

            Set c = cs.ChartObjects.Add(chartX, chartY, chartWidth, chartHeight)
            Set c = c.Chart
            c.ChartWizard , xlXYScatterSmooth, , , , , True, Replace(s.Range("B" & r), "Â", "") & " " & s.Range("A" & r), s.Range("D1"), s.Range("E1")

            Set c2 = cs.ChartObjects.Add(chartX + chartWidth, chartY, chartWidth, chartHeight)
            Set c2 = c2.Chart
            c2.ChartWizard , xlXYScatterSmooth, , , , , True, Replace(s.Range("B" & r), "Â", "") & " " & s.Range("A" & r) & " (%)", s.Range("D1"), s.Range("G1")

            chartY = chartY + chartHeight
            curB = s.Range("B" & r)
            curC = s.Range("C" & r)
        End If

        curC = s.Range("C" & r)
        startR = r
    End If

    If s.Range("A" & r) <> "" Then oneMoreTime = False ' end the loop for real this time
    r = r + 1
Loop

lastTime = True
GoTo seriesAdd
postLoop:
cs.Activate

End Sub

Answer 3

2007 is more powerful with ribbon..:=) To add new series in chart do: Select Chart, then click Design in Chart Tools on the ribbon, On the Design ribbon, select "Select Data" in Data Group, Then you will see the button for Add to add new series.

Hope that will help.