WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:09.710 --> 00:00:12.010 I'm working on a spreadsheet that contains a 00:00:12.010 --> 00:00:13.950 number of different salespeople 00:00:13.950 --> 00:00:16.750 and the amount that they sold each month. 00:00:16.750 --> 00:00:19.001 And I need a way of visualizing these numbers so I 00:00:19.001 --> 00:00:20.001 can easily see 00:00:20.001 --> 00:00:23.360 how each salesperson is doing month to month. 00:00:23.360 --> 00:00:26.869 I could just put them all into one big chart. 00:00:26.869 --> 00:00:30.710 But while this may look cool, it's not exactly easy to read, 00:00:30.710 --> 00:00:35.890 and it would be almost impossible to pinpoint a specific salesperson on this chart. 00:00:35.890 --> 00:00:42.739 Luckily, in Excel 2010, there's another option called sparklines that will allow us to give 00:00:42.739 --> 00:00:43.739 each 00:00:43.739 --> 00:00:46.219 salesperson a separate, miniature chart that fits 00:00:46.219 --> 00:00:48.829 into a single cell. 00:00:48.829 --> 00:00:51.130 In this case, we'll be putting a sparkline on each 00:00:51.130 --> 00:00:55.390 row, so it will be right next to its source data. 00:00:55.390 --> 00:00:59.720 To get started, select the data for a single sparkline. 00:00:59.720 --> 00:01:02.239 In most cases that will mean a single row or 00:01:02.239 --> 00:01:03.999 column. 00:01:03.999 --> 00:01:08.260 And then on the Insert tab, there is a Sparklines group that has commands 00:01:08.260 --> 00:01:14.430 for the three different types: Line, Column, and Win/Loss. 00:01:14.430 --> 00:01:18.890 I'll select Line. 00:01:18.890 --> 00:01:21.530 And we just need to select the location for the 00:01:21.530 --> 00:01:22.530 sparkline, 00:01:22.530 --> 00:01:27.530 which will be the cell right next to our selection. 00:01:27.530 --> 00:01:29.070 And there's our first sparkline. 00:01:29.070 --> 00:01:32.360 And we'll copy this the same way that we copy a 00:01:32.360 --> 00:01:39.460 formula: by dragging the fill handle. 00:01:39.460 --> 00:01:47.030 Now, all of these rows have sparklines, and it's 00:01:47.030 --> 00:01:48.030 easy to see whether 00:01:48.030 --> 00:01:52.170 sales are increasing or decreasing for each employee. 00:01:52.170 --> 00:01:55.920 For example, David Carlson's sales are trending upward, 00:01:55.920 --> 00:02:01.770 but Elizabeth Ferguson's sales are trending downward. 00:02:01.770 --> 00:02:03.610 Let's make some changes to the sparklines to make 00:02:03.610 --> 00:02:06.079 them stand out a little better. 00:02:06.079 --> 00:02:07.750 If you want to make them larger, you can just make 00:02:07.750 --> 00:02:12.080 all of the rows taller, 00:02:12.080 --> 00:02:15.700 and the sparklines will stretch to fit them. 00:02:15.700 --> 00:02:23.100 Then, select any sparkline - it doesn't matter which one - and the Design tab will appear 00:02:23.100 --> 00:02:24.100 with a 00:02:24.100 --> 00:02:25.730 number of different sparkline tools that you can 00:02:25.730 --> 00:02:27.660 use to modify them, 00:02:27.660 --> 00:02:33.500 and if you ever need to delete them, you can just use the Clear command. 00:02:33.500 --> 00:02:36.000 In the Show group, there are some options that let 00:02:36.000 --> 00:02:38.320 you highlight certain points. 00:02:38.320 --> 00:02:40.770 Probably the most useful ones are High Point and 00:02:40.770 --> 00:02:41.830 Low Point, 00:02:41.830 --> 00:02:46.880 and I also like First Point and Last point. 00:02:46.880 --> 00:02:48.440 Now I know that there are no Negative Points in 00:02:48.440 --> 00:02:51.860 this spreadsheet, so I won't worry about those. 00:02:51.860 --> 00:02:58.750 And Markers will highlight every single point, which may make it look a little too cluttered. 00:02:58.750 --> 00:03:00.870 It may be helpful to choose a Style that has a 00:03:00.870 --> 00:03:02.260 little more contrast. 00:03:02.260 --> 00:03:05.340 I like this one because it makes the high point 00:03:05.340 --> 00:03:07.500 and low point green and red, 00:03:07.500 --> 00:03:12.080 which really makes them stand out. 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:14.560 In the Type group, you can change the type of 00:03:14.560 --> 00:03:17.120 sparkline that you're using. 00:03:17.120 --> 00:03:19.041 Column is usually a good choice, and it will work 00:03:19.041 --> 00:03:20.980 with most types of data. 00:03:20.980 --> 00:03:23.520 Win/Loss will basically just show whether the 00:03:23.520 --> 00:03:25.840 values are positive or negative, 00:03:25.840 --> 00:03:29.450 but it won't actually show how low or high the values are. 00:03:29.450 --> 00:03:37.680 Since I don't have any negative values here, that's not as useful, so I'll just use Column. 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:39.290 There's one important thing that you need to know 00:03:39.290 --> 00:03:42.480 about how Excel displays sparklines. 00:03:42.480 --> 00:03:45.400 By default, each sparkline is sort of stretched to 00:03:45.400 --> 00:03:47.170 fit its own cell. 00:03:47.170 --> 00:03:49.370 So the maximum value will go up to the top of the 00:03:49.370 --> 00:03:53.040 cell, and the minimum will be at the very bottom. 00:03:53.040 --> 00:03:55.480 The problem with this is it doesn't show you how 00:03:55.480 --> 00:03:56.850 high or low the values are 00:03:56.850 --> 00:03:59.710 compared to the other sparklines. 00:03:59.710 --> 00:04:01.930 For example, all of these maximum values look the 00:04:01.930 --> 00:04:02.930 same, 00:04:02.930 --> 00:04:07.570 even though the values may be very different, and this can be misleading. 00:04:07.570 --> 00:04:11.260 To fix this, go to the Axis command, and you can 00:04:11.260 --> 00:04:12.260 see that the 00:04:12.260 --> 00:04:15.680 Minimum and Maximum options are set to Automatic. 00:04:15.680 --> 00:04:18.190 You'll need to change both of these to Same for 00:04:18.190 --> 00:04:26.980 All Sparklines. 00:04:26.980 --> 00:04:30.150 And now we can see that the maximum in this sparkline is much higher 00:04:30.150 --> 00:04:33.780 than the the maximum in this one. 00:04:33.780 --> 00:04:36.539 Compared to traditional charts, sparklines offer a 00:04:36.539 --> 00:04:39.270 very different approach to visualizing data, 00:04:39.270 --> 00:04:44.210 and depending on what type of project you're working on, you may prefer one or the other. 00:04:44.210 --> 00:05:10.479 And sometimes, to get the most complete picture, you may even choose to use both.