How to Add a Secondary Axis in Google Sheets Charts

Did you recently create a chart in Google Sheets with X and Y axis, but you now want to take things up a notch by adding a secondary axis? Today is your lucky day, as we have put together a very exciting tutorial that will teach you how to add a secondary axis in Google Sheets Charts in a matter of minutes.

Like we always do with all our Google Sheets tutorials, today’s guide will simplify the entire process, so you won’t have to crack your brains the next time you attempt to add a secondary axis in Google Sheets charts.

But before we jump into the nitty gritty of today’s guide, let’s first show you how you can seamlessly create a chart in Google Sheets.

Create the data

Before you can create a chart in Google Sheets, you want to first create the data in a spreadsheet. For our guide, we have decided to go with this sample data showing products along with sales and returns information.

With the data nicely entered into our spreadsheet, we want to now create a chart, which is super easy, by the way. But don’t take our word for it. Read on as we give you a step-by-step guide on how to create a chart in Google Sheets.

Step 1

You want to first highlight all the values in the spreadsheet, which is super easy. You can do this by manually highlighting the values in each cell or using the keyboard shortcut “Control + A” on a Windows computer or “Command + A” on MAC. For us, the easiest option is to use the keyboard shortcut.

With the data in your spreadsheet now highlighted, you want to head to the insert bar and select Chart.

If you followed the steps precisely as we outlined above, Google Sheets would automatically create a chart that looks something like this:

If you don’t want a bubble-type chart, you can always use the Google Sheets chart editor to select the type of chart you want. Let’s break down how you can choose your preferred chart type.

Start by navigating to the Chart editor on the extreme right of your spreadsheet.
On the chart editor, you’ll notice an option for Chart type.
Click on this option to choose your preferred chart type.
For the purpose of our guide, we will use a column chart, so go ahead and choose the Column chart as your preferred chart type.

With the changes effected, your chart should look something like this:

How to add a second Y-axis to your Google Sheets charts

With our chart now created, we want to jump into specifics by showing you how to add a secondary axis to your Google Sheets charts. And as we reiterated right from the get-go, the process is pretty easy and only takes a few clicks. Here, check out the step-by-step guide on how to add a secondary axis to your Google Sheets charts.

First things first, head over to the Chart editor on the extreme right of your Spreadsheet.
After that, you want to click on the Customize tab option.
Now, click on the Series dropdown menu.

How to Add a Secondary Axis in Google Sheets Charts

From the “Apply to all series” option that pops up, select “Returns” as your preferred series.

Finally, click on the dropdown arrow under Axis and select Right axis.

If you followed the steps outlined above, you should notice that your Chart has been automatically updated. It should look something like this:

While the axis on the right displays the values for Returns, the axis on the left shows the values for Sales. Although this gives our guide some added context, we aren’t done yet.

We want to further simplify things by showing which axis represents which data, and this too, is pretty easy. You want to start by navigating to the Chart editor located on the extreme right of your spreadsheet.

Here, you want to navigate all the way down and select the option “Right vertical axis”

After selecting the “Right vertical axis,” you should notice some options below that. You want to go ahead to click the “B” option under the Label Format. Doing this will make the axis values appear bold. After that, you then want to select red as the Text color.

After applying all these changes, your chart should look exactly like this.

Since we have now made changes to the right axis, we want to also do the same for the left axis. To clearly show the differences, we will be using blue as the Text color. After applying the changes, the axis colors should be automatically updated on the chart. Here, check out how to go about this:

As you did for the steps before this, head straight to the Chart editor on the extreme right of your spreadsheet.

Under the custom option, select “Vertical axis”

After your option has been locked in, you should see several options underneath that. Navigate and click on the “B” option under Label format. This action is intended to make values located on the vertical axis appear bold. Once you have done that, you also want to tweak the Text color. And as we stated earlier, we would like this to be blue. So choose blue as your preferred text color.

After these changes have been automatically applied, your chart should look exactly like this:

From the image above, you can now clearly see that the axis sitting on the left represents the values for Sales, while the opposite axis represents the values for Returns.

Final thoughts

Adding a secondary axis to Google Sheets charts might sound confusing, especially if this is your first time attempting it. But we are sure that after reading today’s extensive guide on how to add a secondary axis in Google Sheets charts, you should be able to add a secondary axis to your Google Sheets charts without sweating it.

Also, we showed you how you could seamlessly create a chart in Google Sheets with just a few clicks. So if you haven’t created a Google Sheets chart before, now you know how to easily create one.

If you are confused with the steps outlined in today’s guide, feel free to leave us a comment, and we will be happy to address your confusion.

Also, if you need help with other Google Sheets problems, you can leave a comment stating how you would like us to help.

Frequently asked questions

Is it possible to add a secondary axis in Google Sheets charts?

There are many exciting things you can do with Google Sheets, especially when working with charts. Thanks to Google Sheets, you can have multiple axes in your charts. And guess what, you don’t need to have a robust experience of Google Sheets to do this.

Do I need technical skills to add a secondary axis to Google Sheets charts?

One thing we love about Google Sheets is its easy use. With Google Sheets, you don’t need to have any extensive experience with Google Sheets before you can add a secondary axis to your chart. By following the steps comprehensively outlined in today’s post, anyone can add a secondary axis in Google Sheets charts with just a few clicks.