This makes sure I remember to capture the full 12 months which was part of the aim.
To make things clear the original dataset containing 48 months of sales data is placed on a worksheet called Data. The end chart will show 12 months of sales data in view at all times and allow the user to scroll through and move the date period on one-month at a time. Knowing the aim of a task is always crucial, you can’t begin your journey without knowing your destination! For this example the aim is to take 48 months of sales data and produce an Excel chart with a scroll bar.
Remember that this is all an example and everything that is covered can be customised and tailored to suit your individual requirements, this guide is aimed at teaching you the basic principles of how to add a slider or scroll bar to a chart in Excel.
It will help you follow the walk-through if you can see everything in Excel and I would advise you to take a look even if you plan to just read the guide or create your own data to work on.Īlternatively you could copy the original data from the Data worksheet in the download file and recreate the Excel chart with a scroll bar using this guide. Imagine if there were 120 months to plot or perhaps daily sales for a few years leading to thousands of data points, it would be almost impossible for the user to focus on the detail.Ĭonsider for our example of 48 months if we look at the same chart but just with 12 months in view:Īs you can see each of the 12 months has a clear data point on the chart which will make analysing the sales easier for the end-user, and usability is a key factor a good analyst should consider when producing winning Excel Dashboards or reports.Ĭreating an Excel Chart with a Scroll barįor this example you can download the Excel file from here.
A basic Excel Chart covering this time frame would look something like this:īy no means is this a terrible chart, it gives you an indication on the sales trend over the 48 months but unless you plan on making the chart wider than a monitor display, something I strongly advise against, it is not very user-friendly if the end-users has a need to focus more specifically on certain data points. To prove this concept the example this guide will use looks at producing a chart off the back of 48 months of sales data. As an Excel analyst it also saves you time as rather than create multiple Excel charts or an unprofessional looking chart you can provide a solution that the client can adapt to their needs. If you and wondering why make the effort to add a scroll bar or slider to a Chart in Excel and the answer is that an Excel chart with the addition of a scroll bar or slider will provides more interactivity for the end-user and especially when charting many intervals, long time-periods for example, it will empower the end-user to find and focus on solutions that work best for them. This guide will walk you through the steps in creating an Excel Chart with a scroll bar… Scroll bars, or Sliders on an Excel Chart are a great addition if you are building interactive Excel Reports and Dashboards.