Create an interactive chart

An interactive chart presents data in stages so that you can emphasize the relationship between groups of data. You can use an interactive chart to show data like sales by group over time, expenses by department, and population changes by country per continent. The example below shows the growth of three species during a three-year period.

Three stages of interactive chart, each showing different data set

Create an interactive chart

  1. Click Chart in the toolbar, click Interactive, then click a chart style.

  2. Click Add Chart Data below the chart. If you don’t see Add Chart Data, make sure the chart is selected.

  3. Click the table cells with the data you want to use. Drag to select a range of cells; to add data from an entire row or column, click the table, then click the bar for that row or column.

    You can select cells from one or more tables, including tables on different sheets. While editing a chart’s data references, Chart icon appears on the tab for any sheet that contains data used in the chart.

  4. To change whether rows or columns are plotted as data series, choose an option from the pop-up menu in the bar at the bottom of the window. The data series are always plotted in the interactive chart, but each data set is displayed separately.

    Bar showing options to plot rows or columns as series
  5. Click Done at the bottom of the window.

View a different data set

You can interact with the chart using a slider and buttons or buttons only.

  1. In the Chart pane of the Format inspector, click the disclosure triangle next to Interactive Chart.

  2. Choose an option from the pop-up menu.