Column Chart with Variable Width Columns.

In a column or bar chart in Excel, the columns or bars are generally all the same width. Sometimes, it helps to emphasize some data by changing the width of some of the columns. You can get fancy and put some series onto the secondary axis, but it's easy to get messed up, and if the data changes, you might have some extra work to do to fix things. This example makes use of the Custom Series Formatting technique described elsewhere on this site.

We'll start with a simple clustered column chart, shown below. We'll reduce the width of the "then" series to emphasize the "now".

The first step in formatting the column series is to draw two rectangles anywhere in the worksheet. Make one wider and one narrower, in about the proportion that you want the wide and narrow columns in the chart.

Using the Alignment commands on the Draw menu of the Drawing commandbar (or a careful mouse hand) align the two rectangles.

Format the narrow rectangle as you want it to appear in the chart. Format the wide rectangle to make it disappear: No Border, No Fill.

Select the two rectangles, and group them together (Draw menu on the Drawing commandbar). It isn't necessary to group them together for the chart, only to prevent the visible one from being moved away from the invisible one. Copy the grouped rectangles.

Select the column chart series, and paste. This applies the design of the copied shape to the selected chart series. The invisible part of the wide rectangle provide the margin on either side of the columns.

For another example of charts with different width bars or columns, check out MVP Andy Pope's Different width stacked bars.

Variable Width Column Charts links to a different style of charts with variable width columns.

A Matrix Chart is another example of a variable width column chart.