When it comes to showing trends over time or other continuous data, few charts do the job better than line charts. They are simple, easy to understand, and incredibly effective at enabling us to visualize changes. From tracking business growth month by month to monitoring daily sales, line charts are versatile tools that transform raw data into something anyone can comprehend. Let's look at what makes line charts so powerful, the types of data that benefit from them, and how you can create a professional line chart using tools like Excel, Google Sheets, and Excelkits ' Line Chart Maker.

What Is a Line Chart?

A line chart is a graph that connects a series of data points with a continuous line, showing how a variable changes over time or other ordered factors. Typically, one axis (often the x-axis) represents time or sequential order, while the other axis (often the y-axis) shows the data value. Line charts are ideal for visualizing changes and trends over continuous periods, allowing viewers to quickly identify upward, downward, or cyclical movements in data.

When to Use a Line Chart

Line graphs are perfect for time-based data or datasets where order matters. Here are just a few of the many use cases for a line graph:

• Customer Metrics: Perfect for visualizing customer acquisition, churn rates, or daily active users over time.
• Revenue Tracking: Ideal for tracking monthly recurring revenue (MRR), annual recurring revenue (ARR), or quarterly earnings.
• User Engagement: Track daily or monthly active users, login frequency, or feature usage to understand product engagement over time.
• Website Traffic Trends: Tracking the number of visitors, page views, or bounce rates on a website over time to monitor marketing effectiveness or changes in user behavior.

For example, a company may use a line chart to track monthly sales over the course of a year. Each point on the chart represents sales in a specific month, allowing management to spot seasonal trends and plan accordingly. You could also use it to plot the sales performance of different products or regions over time to compare trends and identify bestsellers or lagging products.

What are the Different Types of Line Charts?

There are three primary types of line charts, each tailored to different applications. Simple line charts use a single line to connect data points, typically with time on the x-axis and a metric on the y-axis, making them ideal for showing trends over time in a single data series. Common uses include tracking monthly revenue, daily stock prices, or annual temperature changes. Their straightforward design makes it easy to spot trends and understand the overall pattern at a glance.

Building on simple line charts, multi-line charts add additional lines, each representing a different dataset or category on the same axes. This setup is useful for comparing trends across different datasets, like tracking revenue across multiple product lines over time or website visits across regions. Multi-line charts allow viewers to observe individual trends as well as comparisons between categories, helping to identify which categories are rising, falling, or trending similarly.

Compound line charts (also known as stacked or cumulative line charts) show how multiple data series contribute to a cumulative total over time. Each line stacks on top of the previous one, creating a layered effect that reveals both the total trend and the contribution of each component, such as tracking total customer numbers by type or revenue from different sources. This makes it easy to see both the total and the proportional impact of each category over time.

How Do I Create My Own Line Chart?

Creating a line graph is relatively straightforward, with several digital tools that make it easy to enter data, customize your chart, and produce polished visuals. Here's a step-by-step guide to get started:

Choose a Line Chart Maker

Choose a tool that meets your needs. Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, and Excelkits all offer line chart makers, each with different levels of customization and sharing options.

Input Your Data

In any charting tool, start by entering your data. List the time or sequence on one axis (usually the x-axis) and the values on the other (y-axis). Excelkits allows you to import data from different sources like CSV or XLSX files and even directly from Google Drive.

Customize the Chart

Many digital tools offer customizations to suit your presentation needs. In Excelkits , for example, you can adjust the line color, add data points, change line style, and format axis labels to give your chart a professional look.

Visualize and Share

Once you’re satisfied with your line chart, save it in a format like PNG or JPEG, and share or embed it in presentations, reports, or documents.

How to Make a Line Chart in Excel

Excel is a versatile tool that is used by many people to organize datasets and create graphs and charts. Here’s how to make a line graph in Excel:

1. Enter Data: Set up your data in two columns: time period in the first, and data values in the second column.
2. Insert Chart: Highlight the data, go to the "Insert" tab, and choose "Line Chart". Excel provides options like a basic line, stacked line, or line with markers.
3. Customize: Use Excel's formatting tools to adjust colors, add markers for peak points, label your axes, and refine titles.
4. Save or Embed: Once you're satisfied, save or export the chart, or embed it directly into reports or dashboards to keep your team informed.

How to Make a Line Chart in Google Sheets

Google Sheets is another great option for teams that collaborate frequently and are looking for an easy way to create line graphs with their data.

1. Input Data: Add your data to a new sheet, with the sequence (e.g. dates or months) in one column and the values (e.g. revenue, churn rate) in the next.
2. Create a Chart: Highlight the data, click on "Insert" in the menu, and select "Chart".
3. Choose Line Chart: If Google Sheets defaults to another chart type, go to the Chart Editor and select "Line chart".
4. Customize & Share: Adjust elements like colors, titles, and labels, then share the chart directly or embed it in a report.

Excelkits: The Business-Ready Line Chart Maker

Excelkits offers a tailored line graph maker that’s both intuitive and powerful, allowing for quick customizations without sacrificing quality. Its advanced features are particularly useful for businesses, with options that make it easy to upload or link to datasets from various sources, such as CSV files, Excel files, Google Sheets, and even Google Drive.

Key Features

• Professionally designed themes: Select from popular modern design themes you can customize to your brand.
• Flexible Line Customization: Choose from solid, dotted, or dashed lines and adjust color schemes to differentiate multiple metrics.
• Data Labels and Points: Highlight important data points, such as peak daily users or critical revenue milestones, to help viewers see the key moments in your data.
• Dynamic Sizing for Reports: Export charts at high resolution for use in presentations, marketing reports, or team dashboards.
• Direct Integration with Google Drive: Pull data directly from Google Drive and seamlessly update charts for real-time metrics tracking.

Excelkits ' line chart maker is free to use — you don't even have to sign up. Upgrading to a paid version unlocks additional features, such as dynamic dashboards and interactive calculators that let users explore your data in real-time. There are four different pricing tiers to choose from, so you can tailor your plan based on your budget. This makes it a valuable tool for those looking to create professional-quality line charts quickly, without needing extensive software. Get started with Excelkits here.