4

Have several series of data I want to plot on the same chart:

Series A
X          Y
4015188 7361762
4020374 9581526
4022289 10649655
4023878 11223132
4025512 12035416
4028600 13408580
4030353 14233259


Series B
X       Y
689673  10918805
691097  11241203
691632  11510570
692105  11779503
692555  12044321
693475  12574225
694068  12847928
694512  12874474
695523  13412715
696015  13681729
696525  13950947
698062  14758546

So want to plot these as scatter/line graph, on the X/Y axis. Each series should be represented by a different color. How do I do this?

3
  • Have you tried anything? Can you create a chart with one series? Under the Chart Tools>Design there is select data where you can add as many series as you want
    – gtwebb
    Jun 17, 2014 at 23:19
  • Best solution I have, is to consolidate all the Xs to one column, and then put the Ys on seperate columns. Works fine. Jun 17, 2014 at 23:29
  • Did you switch XY labels for your two series? Also, is there a reason you couldn't just add two series to a standard XY Chart?
    – dav
    Jun 18, 2014 at 12:38

3 Answers 3

8

An alternative... Adjust your data:

        Series A
4015188 7361762
4020374 9581526
4022289 10649655
4023878 11223132
4025512 12035416
4028600 13408580
4030353 14233259


        Series B
689673  10918805
691097  11241203
691632  11510570
692105  11779503
692555  12044321
693475  12574225
694068  12847928
694512  12874474
695523  13412715
696015  13681729
696525  13950947
698062  14758546

Select the series A data, including the first row with the blank cell and "Series A" label, and insert your XY Scatter chart, using the option with lines and markers.

Select and copy the series B data, including the first row with the blank cell and "Series B" label, select the chart, and click on Paste Special from the Paste button down arrow on the Home tab. Choose New Series, Values in Columns, Series Names in First Row, and X Values in First Column.

enter image description here

I've recently written Multiple Series in One Excel Chart, a tutorial describing this technique.

7
  • Sadly this doesn't seem to work, it still plots the values based on the Column A numbers and not on top of each other. Mar 6, 2017 at 2:21
  • Did you use all the same settings as shown in the paste special dialog in the screenshot? Mar 7, 2017 at 3:29
  • 1
    I did. I found this same answer in multiple places, but it did not seem to work. The data would still chart out like normal Mar 7, 2017 at 23:10
  • What kind of chart did you make? If it's an XY Scatter chart, this works just fine. If it's a line chart, you need to do something like the other answer in this thread Mar 13, 2017 at 14:04
  • This answer was what solved the issue for me using Office365Pro. However, the way of adding new data series to an existing XY Plot is now a bit different.
    – BmyGuest
    Nov 12, 2020 at 10:04
7

Here is one solution:

X            Y1            Y2
4015188 7361762 
4020374 9581526 
4022289 10649655    
4023878 11223132    
4025512 12035416    
4028600 13408580    
4030353 14233259    
689673              10918805
691097              11241203
691632              11510570
692105              11779503
692555              12044321
693475              12574225
694068              12847928
694512              12874474
695523              13412715
696015              13681729
696525              13950947
698062              14758546

Excel will happily plot this.

6
  • Discuss? Or did this answer your question?
    – dav
    Jun 18, 2014 at 12:38
  • It answers my question, but it seems like an odd way to solve it. What if I were doing it for 100 series? Dec 15, 2015 at 23:17
  • 1
    If you have 100 series, you have to do this 100 times. Mar 13, 2017 at 14:04
  • The above did not work for me, using Office 365 Pro, however the other answer below did.
    – BmyGuest
    Nov 12, 2020 at 10:03
  • How did it not work (what went wrong)? It may help not to have a label above the x values, but only above the y values. Nov 13, 2020 at 17:52
1

This is essentially the same answer as this one above, but using Office365Pro,
Excel Version 2002 Build 12527.21236

Step by step

  • Arrange data in separate junks like in the example below.
  • Select one of those

Data

  • Insert a default XYScatter plot

Insert ScatterPlot

  • Right click the data area of the plot and select Select Data...

Select Data

  • Click the Add button to add a series

Add Button

  • Use the pop-up dialog to specify the three ranges for the label, the X and the Y values

Add Series

That's it.

Note one pit-fall: If your X-values contain non-numeric fields, then the whole x-axis will be interpreted as counted and you might see a plot like this:

Wrong plot

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