In the google analytics and other online tools, you must have seen line charts. In these charts, you can see the shaded area under the curves. This shading looks cool, doesn't it? The question is, can we do this in Excel? How can we shade the area under the curve chart?
Yes! We can. We will need to use a combination of line-chart and area chart. Let's see how you can shade the area below a line chart in Excel through an example.
Here I have data on site visits of the week in the excel table.
We have inserted a line chart using this data which looks something like this:
Now the task is to:
Follow these steps to shade the area below the curved line:
1: Add Helper Column to Data- To add a shaded area to this line chart, we need a helping column that has the exact same value as the original series has. I have used formula =C3 and dragged it down to get the same values.
2: Add Shaded Area Series: Now, right-click on the chart and click on Select Data. Click add series and select range D2:D9 as series value. Hit OK. You won't see any new curve but it is there. The new series covers the original series and that is why you can only see one series.
3: Change Shaded Area Chart Type to Area Chart: Right-Click on the series curve and click on the Change Series Chart Type. Now change the Shaded Area Series to Area Chart Type.
It has already started to look like a shaded area. We just need to do a little bit of the formatting of the chart.
4: Change the Formatting of Shaded Area to Gradient: Right-Click on the shaded area and click on the format data series. From fill and line, select ingredients to fill.
From the Directions, choose Linear Down.
Choose the colors you want to use. I want the blue theme so I use blue gradients.
5: Set the transparency of gradient to 50%: To make this chart even cooler, set the transparency of gradient colors to your need. I made it 50%.
6: Format other components to suit your requirements: The shade to the curve is added and the chart is almost ready but you may want to make it even better to suit your requirements. Remove the components from the chart that you don't need. Format the line and markers on the curve. Change the background color if you need it.
And it is done. You are ready to rock the presentation with this attractive visualization of curved data. You can use this in a PowerPoint presentation, excel dashboard, reports, etc.
I hope it was helpful. If you have any doubts regarding this topic or any other excel/VBA related topic, ask in the comments section below.
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