Choosing a Chart Type

Perhaps the first thing you need to do once you start chart-making is identify exactly what type of chart you want to use. Click the Insert ribbon tab and you'll be brought to the Charts button group (see Figure 6–4).

Figure 6–4. The Charts button group

Here you're shown a collection of basic chart types, each of which offers several subtypes that let you portray your data in different ways, with different looks. Table 6–2 briefly describes them.

Table6–2. Chart Types

Chart Type	What It Does	When to Use It
Column	Depicts data as vertical bars; perhaps the most commonly used type	When you need to present individual sets of data (e.g., sales totals by different departments)
Line	Depicts data as a series of lines