Charts and Dashboards: Marking Milestones - Part 2
9 July 2021
Welcome back to our Charts and Dashboards blog series. This week, I continue to plot milestones on a timeline.
Last time, John, my favourite imaginary salesperson, had a list of tasks to complete to secure a new contract.
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/069/image1.png/e774d10cbbb9450fc45efbe51abdf434.jpg)
I created a chart with all the data I want to show, but the chart I created doesn’t look like milestones on a timeline yet:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/069/image2.png/f32e5a15e2cf9c3e4d2d058458ce054d.jpg)
I need to format my chart. I can click on any Task point and right-click to ‘Change Series Chart Type’:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/069/image3.png/f1140ff857fc3b6f5f97a6a24f4a6fc7.jpg)
I change the zigzag to a column chart.
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/069/image4.png/72aa864d2854c6fefb1083fba0ab5792.jpg)
The next step is to right-click on one of the columns and access the ‘Format Data Series’ pane. I choose to plot the series on a secondary axis. Also, note that choosing this chart can affect the horizontal axis, but I can adjust the line later.
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/069/image5.png/36776d1da4d05b45bb5a5d09375f407c.jpg)
I don’t want to see the axis on the right, so I delete it.
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/069/image6.png/23912d3b1671861e02bebcd5183f1607.jpg)
This is starting to take shape, now I go back to ‘Select Data’ on the ‘Chart Design’ tab, where I can Edit the horizontal axis again. This time I want to change the axis labels.
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/069/image7.png/6f49c288a0d88a66b427eaf4ece923d6.jpg)
Now I can select one of the bars, and right-click it to ‘Add Data Labels’:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/069/image8.png/b9ee28d90e6b5bc92ea4aeafdad51628.jpg)
I can then right-click on a data label to access the ‘Format Data Label’ pane. I only want the ‘Category Name’ to appear.
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/069/image9.png/0485ccbc83bdeec1d741bad442a1ea5f.jpg)
I can move the labels slightly by dragging them to the tip of the bar. Next on the ‘Chart Design’ tab, I am going to use ‘Add Chart Element’ to access the ‘Error Bars’ functionality:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/069/image10.png/daf8c4f0259ce428269c0d3d4badd32b.jpg)
In ‘More Error Bars Options’ I can format the error bar for the Task series in a specific way: I want to set ‘Vertical Error Bar’ to ‘Minus’, ‘End Style’ to ‘No Cap’ and ‘Error Amount’ to 100 percent.
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/069/image11.png/22c6daeb82d7d69ac88f878227e04b28.jpg)
I can now change the bars in Format Data Series. I want ‘No Fill’ and no border (‘No Line’ in Border)
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/069/image12.png/a1537847463e660a31158c8032525438.jpg)
I edit the horizontal axis to show a black line, and edit the gridlines so they do not appear. I can also remove the other vertical axis if I wish. My timeline is complete:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/069/image13.png/917da985be13220165c8d2823e95344f.jpg)
If I don’t want the dates to appear directly under the timeline, I can move the labels to make the chart easier to read. To do this, I right-click on the horizontal axis and go to ‘Format Axis…’:
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/069/image14.png/8c3be7af9f73d031acae69ed85a2e148.jpg)
In the resulting ‘Format Axis’ pane, on the fourth Axis option, change the ‘Label Position’ to ‘Low’ (pictured):
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/069/image15.png/e63c0a4c21afc9afb438aacc09a59317.jpg)
Voila!
![](http://sumproduct-4634.kxcdn.com/img/containers/main/blog-pictures/2021/cd/069/image16.png/d082e3477129350b8a2a589156028e63.jpg)
That’s it for this week. Come back next week for more Charts and Dashboards tips.