Google Sheets is an excellent tool to create impressive presentations and reports. It helps users summarize massive datasets using amazing graphs and charts. Making a double bar graph is pretty straightforward; you need to go to the “Insert” tab of the main menu and select “Chart” from the popup.
A double-bar graph is also known as a side-by-side bar graph. It includes two columns that represent two parameters against a single category.
Users can choose if they wish to display the bars vertically or horizontally.
In this quick guide, let us discuss how to make double bar graph in Google Sheets. We will also discuss the steps to customize double bar graphs, so read the article until the end.
Download the Example Google Sheets
You can download the following spreadsheet that includes the dataset that is used to demonstrate creating a double bar graph in Google Sheets.
Remember to follow me along as I will take you through the article.
If you have your own Google Sheet ready with the required dataset, skip downloading the above file.
When to use a Double Bar Graph?
Users can create a chart with two columns to quickly compare two sets of data against a single parameter or category.
Here’s an example of a Double Bar Graph.
The above chart represents the Oranges and Apples sales from January to June 2023.
For each month, the sales of the Oranges are represented by the Blue colored column. Similarly, the sales of the Apples are represented by the Red-colored column.
As mentioned earlier, the columns can either be vertically or horizontally aligned.
Simply put, a double bar graph helps you compare two data sets using parallel columns. You can customize the above chart as per your preference in spreadsheet programs like Google Sheets.
It is one of the best chart types to visualize datasets with two varying parameters. Users can quickly gain valuable insights with it.
How to Make Double Bar Graph in Google Sheets
Let us discuss the step-by-step process to create a Double Bar Graph in Google Sheets.
The steps are pretty straightforward, and you don’t need any expert knowledge.
Let’s begin,
STEP #1 – Select the Dataset
We will use the following table to create a double-bar graph.
It is simple sales data of Orange and Apple products for the first six months of 2023.
Months are available across the first column, and sales for Orange and Apples are across the second and third columns.
Left-click and drag the cursor using your mouse to select the entire table. You can also select any cell of the table and use the keyboard shortcut “CTRL + A”.
Sidenote: Make sure to select the column header, which will be used to create the axis title for the double-bar graph.
STEP #2 – Create Double Graph
It is a crucial step to insert the double bar graph.
- Hover to the main menu
- Click on the “Insert” tab
- Choose “Chart” from the popup
- A new dialog box will appear on the right-hand side of the screen, as shown below
- Click on the dropdown below the option named Chart type
- Scroll down to the “Columns” section, as shown in the following image
- Select the first option
Google Sheets will instantly create a double bar graph for you, as shown in the following image.
Note that the above bar graph uses the vertical structure. For horizontal structure, you can follow the steps below.
- Hover to the main menu and click on the “Insert” tab
- Select “Chart” from the popup
- A new dialog box will appear, as shown below
- As you can see in the above image, a line graph is inserted by default
- Click on the dropdown below the Chart type option
- Scroll down to the Bar Chart section as shown in the following image
- Select the first option
You should see a horizontal bar graph, as shown in the following image.
Also, instead of using the “Insert” tab of the main menu, you can also go to the toolbar section and click on the “Insert Chart” icon to open the chart editor that allows you to create the graphs and charts.
STEP #3 – Customization
Now that we have inserted the graph let us understand the available options to customize it.
You will see a tab named “Customize” in the chart editor window. Refer to the following image.
Once you click on that tab, a range of options are displayed. They allow you to change the chart style, axis title, series, legend, etc.
Let us quickly discuss each customization option:
- Chart style – Use this option to change the background color, font type, and border color. You can also change your chart from 2D to 3D.
- Chart & axis titles – Here, you can edit the chart title and subtitle. It also lets you add the axis title and use a different font.
- Series – It allows you to format each column or bar of the graph. You can change the fill and line color, opacity, type, etc.
- Legend – You can hide the legend for your double-bar graph or change its position using this option.
- Horizontal axis – It is used to change the horizontal axis font style, order, and label type.
- Vertical axis – Similar to the Horizontal axis option, this one lets you adjust the font style and order and decide the angle for slant labels.
- Gridlines and ticks – Users can hide the gridlines that appear across the entire x-axis of the double bar graph. They can also enable the ticks across the major x-axis and y-axis.
The options are pretty straightforward, but make sure to play with them for better understanding.
FAQs
Q. How do I add Error Bars to the Double Bar Graph in Google Sheets?
Creating bar graphs is pretty straightforward, as discussed in the above section of this article.
If you want to add error bars to the chart, here are the steps.
- Click anywhere on the graph
- Hover to the upper-rightmost corner of the graph and click on three dots as shown below
- Choose the “Edit chart” option from the popup
- A new dialog will appear on the right side of the screen
- Click on the “Customize” tab
- Expand the “Series” option by clicking on it
- Make sure you have selected “Apply to all series” as shown below
- Scroll down, and you will see the “Error bars” option
- Tick the box before the Error bars option
- Enter the percentage value in the empty box below the option named “Value”
Now, small error bars appear in the graph, as shown in the following image.
Q. What are the steps to add more Bars or Columns to the Double Bar Graph?
You can add more columns to the double-bar graph easily. Let’s consider the following example: we have a range of products and their sales data for the first six months of 2023.
Here are the steps,
- Select the entire table
- Hover to the main menu and click on the “Insert” tab
- Choose “Chart” from the popup
As shown below, Google Sheets will automatically create a bar graph with multiple columns.
Now, to remove or add the column, you need to follow the steps below.
- Click anywhere on the graph
- Hover to the upper-rightmost corner of the screen and click on the three dots as shown below
- Choose the “Edit chart” option from the popup
- A new dialog box will appear on the right side of the screen
- Scroll down to the series section
- At the end of the list, you will see an “Add Series” button
- Click on that button and select the desired series to add to the graph
Similarly, to remove a column from the graph, you need to go to the Chart Editor dialog box, scroll down to the series section, and click on the three dots beside the series you wish to remove.
A range of options are displayed, as shown in the following image. Select the first option, “Remove”.
There is no limit on how many columns you add to your bar graphs. It all depends upon the size of your dataset.
Final Words
A double bar graph is an excellent visualization technique that helps business owners compare two datasets quickly.
Make sure to use our example Google Sheet provided at the beginning of this article to practice the steps discussed to add a double-bar graph in Google Sheets.
You can create both vertical and horizontal bar graphs for better data visualization.
I hope this article taught you all the bells and whistles of adding and customizing a double-bar graph. Feel free to comment below if you are stuck somewhere or having any particular issue following the steps mentioned in this article.
Also, make sure to explore our blog to organize and analyze datasets like a pro in Google Sheets.