how to plot a graph in excel with 2 axes

Once you have decided which data series will be on the second Y axis right click the mouse button while the mouse pointer is anywhere on that line, you will see the data-points of that line highlight and a new option box will appear in Excel: There is no rule to this but for this example I set the income to be on the second Y axis. To create a second Y axis the first step is to determine which of the two data series, (in this example units sold or Income) should be on the second Y axis. By creating two Y axis on the Excel chart you will be able to have two different scales on the same chart therefore making it easier for any end-users, and yourself, to interpret the data correctly and see trends or correlations. The solution is to create a second Y axis (Y is the vertical axis for any newcomers reading). As a result of this mismatch in data the Excel chart fails to fit the data correctly and it makes the number of units sold impossible to read, the line just looks flat at the bottom of the chart if you can see it! The flaw with this chart is that units sold are in multiples of ten whereas the income is in multiples of thousands.

One of the key problems with trying to do this is when your values have very different ranges.įor example, if you want to display the number of units sold and the income made from those sales on one chart you might find that the two data series (units sold and income) end up looking something like this on your Excel chart: If you are creating an Excel report that contains charts, and especially if you are creating an Excel dashboard where space is at a premium, then displaying two unique sets of information is extremely useful. To learn how to create a chart with two Y axis in Excel read on…. Adding a second Y axis to an Excel chart can help you display more information on a single chart and empower your users to make better business decisions.

How to plot a graph in excel with 2 axes