In this tutorial, you will learn how to combine two graphs in google sheets.
Google Sheets graphs are easy to add to a spreadsheet and can help in visualizing and interpreting data, but sometimes there can be too much of a good thing. If you have multiple graphs in a spreadsheet, you may find yourself having to scroll around to look at all the data or, worse, not being able to fit the graphs into the space constraints of a slideshow presentation or document. What’s more, displaying two related datasets on separate graphs can make it harder to interpret the relationship between the datasets.
For all these reasons, it’s sometimes better to combine two graphs into one in Google Sheets. While this method doesn’t work for all types of graphs due to Google Sheets limitations, it works nicely for combining column graphs, area graphs, and line graphs. The steps below will walk through an example of how to set up a combined graph in Google Sheets
Adding a Combo Chart
Before adding the graph, the data needs to be set up correctly. For this example, we’re going to combine a stacked column chart that tracks sales across teams for each month in a year, and another chart that tracks the sunny days per month
Step 1
Set up your data with distinct columns for each series to graph. Includes headers at the top of each column. These will display in the legend on the graph. You’ll need at least one column for each graph type you want to combine, plus a labels column (Month in the screenshot below)
Step 2
Select the data, including headers, and open the Insert menu and choose Chart
Step 3
In the Chart Editor sidebar, under Chart Type, choose Combo Chart
Step 4
Google Sheets will arbitrarily assign the columns of data to different graph types in the combo chart, but the results will most likely not be what you had in mind
Step 5
To manually select which data series should be represented by which chart type, switch to the Customize tab of the Chart Editor and click on the Series section to expand it
Step 6
Select the first series you want to assign a chart type to from the first dropdown, then choose the chart Type in the next dropdown
Step 7
Adjust the color, fill, and other format options for the series if desired
Step 8
Repeat Step 6-7 for all series. Note that it is likely you will want to display the different graph types on different Y-axes. If this is the case, you can choose the right axis instead of the default left axis from the Axis dropdown for the series in question
Step 9
At this point, your graph should look close to how you want it, but if you’ve used the column type for multiple series, you can also switch to a stacked column chart if desired. The dropdown to select the desired Stacking option is back on the Setup tab of the Chart Editor, under Chart Type
Step 10
Your combined chart is complete!
Summary
Example Spreadsheet: Make a copy of the example spreadsheet
In this tutorial, I covered how to combine two graphs in google sheets. Want more? Check out all the Google Sheets Tutorials.