Today, we are going to talk about putting two different series into one chart.
If you have two series that differ from each other, e.g. they have different units or one of them is much bigger than the other, then you should use the Secondary Axis on you chart. How can you do it? From Excel 2013 the task is simple as Microsoft inserted the Combo chart. Our example has simple data, so we just have to click on one cell, then go to the Insert tab, where we can find a Combo chart with the Secondary Axis (Fig. 1)
I can see that not everything is as I wanted, that’s why I’m going to make some changes. I just select the chart and go to the Chart Design tab, where I can find the Change Chart Type option. In the window that appeared, we change the type of each series. The rainfall is on the secondary axis, which is good, however, I prefer the rainfall to be presented as a column chart, and I will put the temperature into a line chart with markers (Fig. 2)
After pressing OK, we can see a finished chart with two values (Fig. 3)
But, how can we do it in Excel from before 2013? Let’s insert a simple column chart by going to the Insert tab, then choosing the proper column chart (Fig. 4)
As our values differ much in size, where the rainfall is significantly bigger than the temperature, I would like to have the rainfall series on a secondary axis. I have to select the hole series by clicking once on the series element, then press Ctrl + 1, find the series option, go to Plot Series On, and choose Secondary Axis (Fig. 5)
And, just like that we have a different axis for rainfall, and a different axis for temperature. There is still one thing we need to change, which is the type of temperature series, because now one series is behind the other and we don’t know how high some columns are. Let’s click one time on the series and go to the Insert tab, where we can choose a new chart type. Let’s choose the Line with Markers option (Fig. 6)
Just like that, I have a chart with a secondary axis and different chart types. Let’s change the name of the chart into Temperature and rain. The chart is finished (Fig. 7)
