You have numbers in Excel, but the chart button you need changes by app, device, and data type. Excel creates a graph from a selected range, a table, a PivotTable, or a Microsoft 365 data-insight pane. Start with Recommended Charts, then use the manual, web, mobile, PivotChart, shortcut, and AI routes that match your screen.
Start With Recommended Charts
Select the data you want to graph. Go to Insert, choose Recommended Charts, stay on the Recommended Charts tab, and select a chart to preview it.
When the preview looks right, select OK. Excel inserts the chart in your workbook.
If Recommended Charts does not give you the graph you want, use the Insert tab to pick the chart type manually.
Choose the Chart Type Yourself
Use this route when you know the exact graph type you want.
Select the data range you want to turn into a chart.
Open the Insert tab.
Select the chart type you want.
Double-click the chart you want to add.
To restyle the finished chart, select it and pick a look under Chart Design.
In Excel for the web, select the range, open Insert, choose Charts, and select the chart type.
Use the Web Task Pane
This method applies when you are using Excel for the web with Microsoft 365. The browser version opens Recommended Charts in a task pane. Microsoft offers Recommended Charts to Microsoft 365 subscribers in English, French, Spanish, German, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese, so check your Office display language if the pane never appears.
Select the data you want to graph, then go to Insert and choose Recommended Charts.
Choose the chart you want in the Recommended Charts task pane, then select + Insert Chart.
For PivotChart suggestions, select + Insert Pivot Chart from the same pane.
Try Quick Analysis on Windows
Select the cells that contain the data for your graph.
Click the Quick Analysis button in the bottom-right corner of the selection.
Open the Charts tab.
Move across the recommended charts to preview them.
Click the chart you want to insert it into the worksheet.
Tip: press Ctrl+Q after selecting the data to open Quick Analysis from the keyboard.
Create a Graph With Keyboard Shortcuts
This fixes slow chart insertion when Excel for Windows should build the graph immediately.
Select the chart data, or select one cell inside the current data range.
Press Alt+F1 to create an embedded chart with the default chart type.
Press F11 to create the chart on a separate chart sheet.
Make a Graph on iPhone, iPad, or Android
Open the workbook and worksheet in the Excel mobile app.
Drag the handles to select the data you want to graph.
On iPad or Android tablet, tap Insert.
On iPhone or Android phone, tap the Edit icon.
Tap Home, Insert, and Recommended.
Choose a recommended chart to insert it.
Tip: for all chart types, use Charts on iPad or iPhone and Chart on Android.
Build a PivotChart From Summary Data
A PivotChart belongs with summarized table data. In Excel for Windows, select a cell in your table, open Insert, choose PivotChart, select where the PivotChart should appear, choose OK, and select the fields to display.
On Mac, start from a PivotTable, select any cell inside it, open Insert, and choose Column, Line, Pie, or Radar. On Excel for the web, select a cell in the PivotTable, open Insert, use the Insert Chart dropdown menu, and click a chart option.
Treemap, Statistical, and Combo charts do not work with PivotTables. Use a regular worksheet chart for those chart types.
Ask Analyze Data or Copilot for a Chart
This fixes the blank chart-choice moment in Microsoft 365 when Analyze Data or Copilot is turned on. Analyze Data goes to Microsoft 365 subscribers in English, French, Spanish, German, Simplified Chinese, and Japanese, and its natural-language queries ship on a gradual basis, so the query box may not be available in every country or region yet.
For Analyze Data, select a cell in the data range.
Open Home and select Analyze Data.
Review the visuals in the task pane.
Enter a question in the query box.
Press Enter.
Insert the returned chart into the workbook.
For Copilot in Excel, select the Copilot icon in the lower-right corner of Excel.
Describe the chart you want, such as a line chart showing change over time.
Review the generated chart or editable workbook result.
Fix Missing Chart Buttons and Outdated Instructions
Use these checks when Excel does not show the chart feature you expected.
For current chart creation, ignore old Chart Wizard instructions and use Insert then Recommended Charts, or Insert then a chart type.
When instructions mention Ideas, use Home then Analyze Data; certain semi-annual builds used the older name for the same surface.
On Windows, turn on connected experiences from File, Account, Account Privacy, Manage Settings, Turn on experiences that analyze your content, and OK, then restart Excel.
On Mac, turn on connected experiences from Excel, Preferences, Personal Settings, Privacy, Connected Experiences, Manage Connected Experiences, Turn on experiences that analyze your content, and OK, then restart Excel.
For the Excel app-level Copilot switch, use File, Options, Copilot, Enable Copilot, and OK on Windows version 2501 or later; on Mac version 16.93.2 or later, use Excel, Preferences, Authoring and Proofing Tools, Copilot, and Enable Copilot, then restart Excel. Microsoft documents that Enable Copilot checkbox for apps signed in with a personal Microsoft account; Copilot also needs an eligible license, and on a work or school account your organization's settings decide whether it appears at all.
On work or school devices with blocked connected experiences, ask the Microsoft 365 administrator to check the Office privacy policies for connected experiences that analyze content.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I reuse the same Excel chart design?
Create and format a chart, right-click it, choose Save as Template, and select Save. Later, use All Charts, Templates, and your saved template.
How do I start from a Microsoft chart template?
Open Microsoft's Excel chart templates page, select View all chart templates, choose a template, open it in Excel, and replace the sample data with your own.
How do I make an Excel-backed chart in Word or PowerPoint?
In Word or PowerPoint, open Insert, choose a chart type, double-click the chart, and replace the sample data in the Excel worksheet that opens.
How do I paste an Excel chart into Word and refresh it later?
In Excel, select the chart and press Ctrl+C. In Word, click where the chart belongs and press Ctrl+V; later select the chart and use Chart Design, Data, and Refresh Data.
