WEBVTT Kind: captions Language: en 00:00:11.380 --> 00:00:15.050 I'm working on a spreadsheet that includes a number of different salespeople, and the 00:00:15.050 --> 00:00:17.450 amount that they sold each month. 00:00:17.450 --> 00:00:22.200 I need a way to visualize these numbers, so I can see how each person's sales are progressing 00:00:22.200 --> 00:00:24.140 over time. 00:00:24.140 --> 00:00:27.610 I could just put them all together in one big chart. 00:00:27.610 --> 00:00:32.020 This certainly looks cool, but it's not exactly easy to read—and it's almost impossible 00:00:32.020 --> 00:00:36.670 to pinpoint any one person with all these overlapping lines. 00:00:36.670 --> 00:00:42.309 Luckily, there's another option called sparklines that'll let us give each person their own 00:00:42.309 --> 00:00:46.360 separate mini-chart—one that fits into a single cell. 00:00:46.360 --> 00:00:50.360 In this case, we'll be putting a sparkline on each row, so it'll be right next to the 00:00:50.360 --> 00:00:52.600 source data. 00:00:52.600 --> 00:00:56.260 To get started, select the data for a single sparkline. 00:00:56.260 --> 00:01:00.190 In most cases, this will mean a single row or column. 00:01:00.190 --> 00:01:05.489 Then go to the Insert tab… and in the Sparklines group, you'll find commands for the three 00:01:05.489 --> 00:01:08.030 different types: Line… 00:01:08.030 --> 00:01:10.860 Column… and Win/Loss. 00:01:10.860 --> 00:01:13.579 I'm going to choose Line. 00:01:13.579 --> 00:01:19.299 Next, we just need to select the cell where we want the sparkline to go (in this case, 00:01:19.299 --> 00:01:25.549 right next to our source data)… then click OK. 00:01:25.549 --> 00:01:28.509 And there's our first sparkline! 00:01:28.509 --> 00:01:32.440 We'll copy it to the rest of the worksheet the same way that we'd copy a formula: by 00:01:32.440 --> 00:01:40.689 clicking and dragging the fill handle. 00:01:40.689 --> 00:01:45.280 Now all the rows have sparklines, and we can easily to see whether sales are increasing 00:01:45.280 --> 00:01:48.079 or decreasing for each employee. 00:01:48.079 --> 00:01:54.180 For example, David Carson's sales are trending upward… while Elizabeth Counts' are trending 00:01:54.180 --> 00:01:56.289 downward. 00:01:56.289 --> 00:02:00.869 Let's make some changes that'll make the sparklines stand out a bit more. 00:02:00.869 --> 00:02:07.050 If you want to make them larger, you can just make all of the rows taller… and the sparklines 00:02:07.050 --> 00:02:09.470 will stretch to fit. 00:02:09.470 --> 00:02:14.930 You can also select any sparkline (it doesn't matter which one)… and the Design tab will 00:02:14.930 --> 00:02:17.750 appear on the Ribbon. 00:02:17.750 --> 00:02:22.330 Here you'll find a wide range of tools that'll let you customize your sparklines. 00:02:22.330 --> 00:02:26.780 In the Show group, for instance, you can choose to highlight certain points to make your sparklines 00:02:26.780 --> 00:02:29.010 easier to read. 00:02:29.010 --> 00:02:33.470 Probably the most useful ones are High Point… and Low Point. 00:02:33.470 --> 00:02:38.000 I also like First Point and Last Point for clearly marking the beginning and the end 00:02:38.000 --> 00:02:40.340 of the line. 00:02:40.340 --> 00:02:44.580 If we turn on Markers, you can see that it highlights every point, which can make your 00:02:44.580 --> 00:02:48.230 sparklines look a bit cluttered. 00:02:48.230 --> 00:02:51.710 And I know there are no Negative Points in my data, so I'm going to leave this option 00:02:51.710 --> 00:02:54.360 alone. 00:02:54.360 --> 00:02:59.010 It may help to choose a different style for your sparkline to give it more contrast. 00:02:59.010 --> 00:03:04.280 I like this one because it makes the high point green, and the low point red, which 00:03:04.280 --> 00:03:08.900 should really make them stand out. 00:03:08.900 --> 00:03:13.120 In the Type group, you can change the type of sparkline that you're using. 00:03:13.120 --> 00:03:18.490 In addition to Line, Column is also good choice because it works with most types of data. 00:03:18.490 --> 00:03:24.330 Win/Loss, on the other hand, will just tell us whether the values are positive or negative—it 00:03:24.330 --> 00:03:26.560 won't show how high or low they are. 00:03:26.560 --> 00:03:30.560 I don't have any negative values here, so that's not as useful. 00:03:30.560 --> 00:03:34.930 I'm just going to switch back to Column. 00:03:34.930 --> 00:03:38.310 There's one more thing you should know about sparklines—specifically, the way they're 00:03:38.310 --> 00:03:39.310 displayed. 00:03:39.310 --> 00:03:43.410 By default, they're scaled to fit each cell perfectly, so they fill the entire thing. 00:03:43.410 --> 00:03:47.460 Notice how the maximum values look the same in these two sparklines, even though we can 00:03:47.460 --> 00:03:51.320 tell from the source data that the numbers are very different? 00:03:51.320 --> 00:03:53.260 That's the problem with this feature. 00:03:53.260 --> 00:03:57.960 It makes it hard to compare one sparkline to another, because they all look so alike—in 00:03:57.960 --> 00:04:01.090 some cases, it can even be misleading. 00:04:01.090 --> 00:04:04.920 Luckily, there's a way to counter this. 00:04:04.920 --> 00:04:10.510 All you have to do is go to the Axis command… and look to the Minimum and Maximum Value 00:04:10.510 --> 00:04:12.460 Options. 00:04:12.460 --> 00:04:16.870 Right now, they're both set to automatic, and we just need to change them to Same for 00:04:16.870 --> 00:04:25.460 All Sparklines. 00:04:25.460 --> 00:04:29.780 Now we can see that the maximum in this sparkline is much higher than the the maximum in this 00:04:29.780 --> 00:04:33.710 one. 00:04:33.710 --> 00:04:37.910 Compared to traditional charts, sparklines offer a very different approach to visualizing 00:04:37.910 --> 00:04:38.910 your data. 00:04:38.910 --> 00:04:43.910 They make it easy to view and analyze trends on a more individual basis, and can really 00:04:43.910 --> 00:04:45.380 help you manage your worksheet.